Despite his success in the big smoke, Phillip Hugh es never Jost his country kid charm

BY DARSHAK MEHTA

Ihave been trying to delve deep to find some reason s why the h igh ly tragic and ridiculous ly premature death of Phillip Hughes has touched u s all so much Frankly, I struggle co articulate the reasons. All I have is some theories and the anecd otal evidence o f conversa tions wi th fr iend s in cricket and outside.

So, what sort of bloke was he?

1 met him when h e was almost 18 and had come to the big sm oke (Sydney), a few months prio r, to work on his cricket. His mentor and coach, Neil D 'Costa wanted me to meet him an d we spent a most pleasant three hours over di1111e r at Abh i's in Strathfield, shooting the breeze.

Neil D'Cosca had been talking him up as the Next Big Thing, and given that eil had delivered Michael C larke to this country, who could doubt him?

Phillip was respectful, a keen listener a nd politely cook in all the u n solicited ad vice and "insights" I thought I was obliged to give him, given what Neil must have told him! I was impressed as he was a warm, cheerful country kid who, as per h is coach, had a fo rmidable work ethic combined wi d1 an appetite fo r batting fo r long periods o f tim e.

When we get paid for something we would do fo r free, ic is never more d1an a hobby a nd I sensed chat cricket was me rely a game fo r Phillip and he was surprised char he could make a motza out of his magnificent o b session - batti ng.

Subsequently, I saw him around at the cricket and he always came up to bave a yarn or chin- wag (a quality few cr icketers have!) He clid not have to do this After all, he was in tbe middle of some se r ious cricket for bis country, and occasio na!Jy even bis place in the team was in jeopardy, but ic always seemed to be just a game to him and he was still very much the warm, joyous, unspoilt counu-y kid

Ou Australia D ay in 2009, Phil generously came to the Reg

Barcley Oval, Rushcutters Bay, at m y request for an LB\Xf Trust charity fundraiser - a cricket match. He s tayed for a couple o f hours, spo ke to hundreds of supporte r s and refused to even let me get him a taxi back h ome

Our Directors were all fra n kly asto ni shed to see a cricketer behave in su ch an. unassuming, modest and heart-warming manner.

Everyone knows about his rather unique and highly unortl10dox batting techni q ue Howeve r, despite this (or is it because of ic?) he was able to score a prodigious amount of runs in all forms of the ga me.

I chink he had worked it out chat cbou gh the critics, o ld timers, coaches, journalists a n d d1e public had an opinion o n his technique, he would be most successful if he ignored their advice and continued to have faith in what had worked for him, rather than tinker with i t and tempt fate.

Nevertheless, he p u t in the hard slog and made min or adjustments, working unsparingl y with Neil D'Cosca.

He even sought our Sachin Tendull<at, by specia!Jy visi ting l ndia in the off- sea so n , co seek his counsel on improving his game. Sachin was absolutel y touched.

Io September 201 0, when he was wan ting to travel to Inclia direc tly from London, he contacted me in a desperate rush to seek my help in obtaining his visa. Ge n eral ly, every countr y requires visa applicants to lodge their applications in thei r country of residence. To the credit of Inclia's Foreign Service, they went out of their way and obliged Phil in a trice. To his g reat delight he was able to make ic for the start of the Australian cricket team's tour of Inclia, at very short notice.

My l ast memor y of Phillip is bump ing in to him in February 2013, at the team hotel, tl1e Taj Coromandel i n l'vfadras. I was going out to clinner and he was going back up to h is room after having already eaten. We bad a nice chat near the eleva tor. The Australians had a rough day on the field, but that was not at alJ obvious when we were talking T ypical of the bloke, I tho ug ht.

And now, here we are, mourning a gentle soul, so crue!Jy snatched from our midst, in t he very prime of bis life. The only co n sol ation is d1a t he went whilst indulging in bis passion.

Phillip Hughes was a laconic, humble, generous, uncomplaining, unspoilt character who did not have tickets on himself. He was a. p leasure to be in the company of He had a ioie de vivre abou t bim He had a committnent to exceU ence, and worked tirelessl y to iron o ut d1e fla\VS in his gam e These were all extremely endearing qualities that everyone could recognise and admired in him.

Australia, and I dare say, the

Phillip even sought ou t Sachin Tendu lkar to seek his coun sel on improving his game

My last memory of Philli p is bumping into hi m in February 2013, at Taj Coromandel, the team hotel, in Mad ras We had a nice chat near t he elevator The Austra lians had a roug h day on t he field, but that was not at all obvious when we were ta lking.

Typica I of the bloke, I thought world, is a much poorer pl ace for his absence.

He will certainly be starring in the Elysian Fields RIP, Hughesy. You truly, mad ly, deeply touched us.

Dm·shak Mehta is Chaimian of 1he L BW Trust. 1he Learning fo1· a Bette,· World Trust (www lbwtrust.com au) is a cricketfocused charity which provides tertiary education to over 1000 students in 7 developing, cricket playing countries, including over 500 students in India alone.