Phil Hughes was agricultural in his batting style. But he was humble and affable like a Macksville farm boy. He was a bright and jolly good fellow. He was only 25 years old. We thought he had time on his side… After the initial flurry, Hughes was relegated to a perennial reserve man in the Australian team. He accepted that with a smile, for he thought he had time on his side…

South Africa in 2009 was a magical beginning. A callow left-hander he was then, who upstaged Chris Rogers and Phil Jaques to get into the Test squad. A century in each innings (115 and 160) at Kingsmead, Durban proved to be instrumental in Australia’s series victory. It also vindicated Andrew Hilditch’s (then Australia chief selector) selection policy. But happiness was short-lived.

Hughes went to England and Andrew Flintoff and Co exposed the chinks in his technique against moving ball. He was dropped after scores of 36, 4 and 17 at Cardiff and Lord’s. The return Ashes Down Under in 2010 was even worse. He made 2, 12, 16, 23, 31 and 13 in the six innings he played. Another omission followed.

Hughes had shown signs of returning to form with a gritty 126 against Sri Lanka at Sinhalese Sports Club in September next year. But he failed to build on that, a couple of decent contributions down the line notwithstanding. The Indian summer in 2013 was the worst as Hughes could only manage 147 runs in eight innings against the spin bowling of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja. Towards the end of that series, however, he had started to unlock the secret which allowed him one more chance at the top level.

Hughes went to England, made 81 not out in the first Test at Nottingham, but his form dipped again. He made 1 and 1 in the second Test at Lord’s, and it turned out to be his last.

A tally of 1,535 runs at 32.65 in 26 Tests and 826 runs at 35.91 in 25 ODIs was pretty average for a cricketer of Hughes’ talent. But we thought he was young enough to make up for lost time…

Hughes was on the verge of Test recall, in place of injured Michael Clarke, when he was taken down by a Sean Abbott—spare a thought for him—bouncer at the Sydney Cricket Ground. What an irony that the ball was, in fact, slow enough to cause the damage. Hughes had already completed his stroke when it arrived. He got his timing wrong.

Former England captain Michael Atherton has rightly reminded us about the brutal nature of the game even in these days of head-to-toe protection. “Even in this helmeted, padded age, cricket remains a brutal game and Hughes’s sickening injury Tuesday was a reminder of that,” he wrote in his The Times column.

Just think about the players then who had faced 90 mph deliveries with very little protective gears. Hughes reportedly was wearing an older, lighter version of his Masuri helmet, but he at least had some protection. Those who stood against Douglas Jardine’s insane Bodyline tactics had none.

Hughes’ injury was an accident and sadly he became a victim of misfortune. As per Tony Grabs, trauma director at St Vincent’s Hospital where Hughes was admitted for surgery, it was one of the rarest of rare cases.

“This was a freakish accident because it was an injury to the neck that caused haemorrhage in the brain. This condition is incredibly rare. It’s called vertebral artery dissection, leading to subarachnoid haemorrhage—that’s the medical term for it,” Grabs told Cricinfo. “If you look in literature, there’s only about 100 cases ever reported, so this is incredibly rare. Only one previous case has ever been reported as the result of a cricket ball,” he added.

Calls for restrictions on the number of bouncers are preposterous. “Without fast bowling, without the physical threat, cricket is a lesser game,” wrote Atherton. Without genuine fast bowling, cricket loses its charm.

In the 1970s, when West Indies fast bowlers were causing mayhem, the great Muhammad Ali was once ushered into the Caribbean dressing room. He picked up a cricket ball and said: “Do you mean to say you play with this stuff, this hard one? It can kill!”

Still, cricket remains a very safe sport. We have seen odd accidents—head injuries, concussions, broken jaws and cheekbones, broken noses and broken ribs. But thankfully, fatal or near-fatal injuries are few and far between. When a solid, hard object, weighing 5.5 ounces, is hurled at 90 mph and the batters have only half a second to adjust, then there will always be an inherent danger. Those who play the game are well aware of it. Hughes’ death is unlikely to change their approach. They won’t be going to the crease with the fear of getting hit.

Of course, Hughes’ death puts the safety issue in the spotlight. Hopefully, more time will be spent to further improve the quality of protective equipment. But nothing in life can be fool-proof. Accidents can happen anytime, even with the best protective gears in place. There’s always an element of luck attached to it.

Hughes was unlucky. His time was up.