Phillip Hughes death – how the world reacted

The cricketing world is in shock following the death of Australian batsman Phillip Hughes.

In response, the start of the second day’s play in the final test between Pakistan and New Zealand in Sharjah has been suspended.

The Pakistan Cricket Board and New Zealand Cricket agreed to delay the start of play and will decide their future course of action.

Hughes, who played 26 Tests for his country, collapsed face first on the ground after being struck by a bouncer from Abbott during a Sheffield Shield game between South Australia and New South Wales on Tuesday.

Hughes, 25, had been wearing a helmet but the ball missed it, striking him at the top of the neck and causing a vertebral artery dissection, which resulted in a “massive bleed” on the brain.

•     Phillip Hughes, batting for South Australia, was hit in the neck by a short-pitched ball on Tuesday. He never regained  consciousness.
•     Australian team doctor Peter Brukner explained Hughes died as a result of “vertebral artery dissection”.
•     His family paid tribute to a “much-loved son and brother”.
•     Cricket Australia is “completely devastated” at the “freak accident”.
•     Emotional Australia captain Michael Clarke stayed with Hughes’s family at his bedside for two days.
•     Flags flown at half-mast at Melbourne Cricket Ground and Sydney Cricket Ground.
•     No decision yet whether to play next week’s Test match against India, but warm-up match cancelled.
•     Australia rugby union team set to wear black armbands against England at Twickenham on Saturday.
•     Golfer Adam Scott, an Aussie, wears a black ribbon during Australian Open.
•     Prime Minister Tony Abbott described Hughes’ death as a “shocking aberration”.
•     Recap how the world reacted to Hughes’s death below

Indian icon Sachin Tendulkar said he was shocked to hear of Hughes’s death, calling it a “sad day for cricket”.

“Deepest condolences to family, friends and well wishers. RIP,” said Tendulkar, who played alongside the left-hander in the Indian Premier League.

Although he had not yet turned 26, Hughes had already plied his trade for teams around Australia and overseas.

In 2012, he signed on with English county side Worcestershire, shortly after being dropped from the Australia Test team.

Coaching director at Worcestershire, Steve Roach, told ABC NewsRadio Hughes would be fondly remembered.

“As a player he was a sort of a run thief really, he could score runs at certain angles and places that you thought how could you do this,” he said.

Off the field Hughes was described as a humble country boy whole fitted into the community with ease.

“Worcestershire is a very rural place, and I think he felt very much at home,” Roach said.

“What also appealed to the players was that he (Hughes) wasn’t this superstar coming over, a great test cricketer who would bully everybody.

“He was a person who was a human being and he had a little cheeky smile, just sat in his corner, he was just Hughesy.”

Messages of support had been flooding in from around the world from the big cricketing nations of India, Pakistan, South Africa, New Zealand and England, since the accident.