Why is November 27th Called Cricket History's Black Day? A Major Accident Occurred in Sydney

In 2014, a 4-Test match series was played between India and Australia. An incident occurred during that tour that cricket fans will perhaps never forget. Before the Test series, which was scheduled to begin on December 9, Australia's emerging star batsman Phil Hughes died after being hit by a ball on his head during a match. The match between South Australia and New South Wales in the Sheffield Shield began on November 25, 2014, at the Sydney Cricket Ground. On the third day of the game, a ball from Sean Abbott hit Phil Hughes on the neck, and he bid farewell to the world on the cricket pitch itself.

The incident occurred during a Sheffield Shield match

For this reason, November 27 is remembered as 'Black Day' in cricket history. In this Sheffield Shield match, South Australia's captain Johan Botha won the toss and decided to bat first. He wanted to gain form before the Test series against India with a stellar performance in this match. But no one knew that he would bid farewell to the world before this series.

In Sydney, Phil Hughes came out as an opening batsman with Mark Cosgrove in this match, and the two shared a 61-run partnership for the first wicket in 23.4 overs. Mark Cosgrove was out after scoring 32 runs off 68 balls. He was caught out by Nathan Lyon. Cosgrove's innings included 9 fours. After this, Phil Hughes was joined by Callum Ferguson, and the two shared a 61-run partnership for the second wicket. Ferguson was out after scoring 28 runs with the help of 4 fours.

After this, Tom Cooper came in to bat at number four. The aim of both players was to take South Australia to a strong position from here, but the 49th over proved to be the 'final over' of the match. The third ball of Sean Abbott's 10th over hit Hughes on the neck, and he collapsed on the field. All the players from the fielding team slowly gathered around Hughes, but by then he had lost consciousness. He was rushed to the hospital, and doctors tried their best to save him, but Hughes had already bid farewell to the world on the cricket pitch.

Phil Hughes' International Career

Phil Hughes had played 26 Test, 25 ODI, and 1 T20 match for Australia. He had scored 1535 runs in Tests at an average of 32.66. During this period, he had scored 3 centuries and 7 half-centuries. Apart from this, he had scored 826 runs in ODIs and 6 runs in his only T20. After this tragic incident, Cricket Australia retired his jersey number 64 in honour of Phil Hughes. When the series began, India's then-captain MS Dhoni suddenly retired from Test cricket after the first Test.