David Warner’s touching tribute to Phil Hughes ahead of farewell Test in Sydney: ‘If he was still with us, he’d be in my or Usman Khawaja’s position’

Australia opener David Warner, who’ll play his last Test starting Wednesday in Sydney, on Tuesday remembered his former teammate, the late Phil Hughes.

Hughes, who died at the age of 25 off a cricket ball blow to the neck while batting at the SCG during a Sheffield Shield match, had featured across 26 Test matches, 25 ODIs and a T20I for Australia.

Warner recalled being at the venue when Hughes was hit and how his passing affected the team.

“For us, being here when he fell that day, was quite sad and terrible,” Warner said, almost in a choke. “Still today, it hits us hard. I’ve always seen him at the other end. All the boys know he’s looking down upon us. His character, his energy and his smile lit up the room. Best mates with everyone, no one would ever say a bad word about him.”

The southpaw went on to add that he had a firm belief that Hughes was going to be “one of our greatest opening batters ever.”

“He had every shot in the book. I truly, truly believe today – if he was still with us – he’d be in my position or Uzzie’s (Usman Khawaja) position (in the Test team),” he said.

Hughes’ passing in 2014 had left Australia in a state of mourning. At the time, he’d been in contention for the top spot in Australian batting ahead of the four-match series against India. The opener’s funeral in his hometown of Macksville was also attended by India’s stand in skipper at the time, Virat Kohli, head coach Duncan Fletcher and Team Director Ravi Shastri.

• Two of the big questions for 2024: Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli for T20 World Cup? PR Sreejesh or Krishna Pathak for Paris?
• Swapping Roger Federer for Dale Steyn, how Nandre Burger became South Africa cricket’s ‘next big thing’
• In the stories of Asian Games’ medalists, the story of sport in India

In his memory, a plaque would be installed by the SCG home dressing room. As has been the tradition since, Warner has touched the plaque on his way to batting, as he’ll get to do in his final Test match for Australia.

Disclaimer: The copyright of this article belongs to the original author. Reposting this article is solely for the purpose of information dissemination and does not constitute any investment advice. If there is any infringement, please contact us immediately. We will make corrections or deletions as necessary. Thank you.