Four years on from Phillip Hughes tragedy, the pain is still raw

Awful memories of Phillip Hughes tragedy flood back as Sri Lanka’s Dimuth Karunaratne is struck by a vicious bouncer.

Medics and officials surround Sri Lanka's batsman Dimuth Karunaratne. Picture: AAP

On Saturday, Travis Head broke down after play when it was mentioned he had dedicated his Test century to former South Australian teammate Phillip Hughes. Four years on the pain is still raw.

Head had looked to the skies on making the hundred as many of his generation do.

That one’s for you mate.

Today, the awful memories of what happened that day at the SCG in November 2014 came flooding back. Hearts beat faster. Mouths went dry and faces pale. An anxious silence filled the open spaces.

Sri Lankan opener Dimuth Karunaratne couldn’t get out of the way of a Pat Cummins short ball and was lying on his back. The 30-year-old tried to duck but was stuck directly in the flight of a delivery that bounced off his shoulder and hit his neck with an ugly thud.

Sri Lanka’s Dimuth Karunaratne falls to the ground after being hit by a delivery from Australia’s Pat Cummins. Picture: AFP

Hughes had been hit on the neck. Everyone in Australian cricket knows that sad fact. Some, like Head, Nathan Lyon and Mitchell Starc, knew it all too well because they had been there that day that their little mate was felled.

There’d been a carnival atmosphere at the cricket on Saturday. A Sri Lankan band with horns and drums had kept up a persistent din at the Manuka end. Canberrans were out in full force for their first ever Test at the ground.

At first it the blow didn’t seem too bad, but a quiet chill took hold as the Australian players, his teammate Lahiru Thirimane gathered around the prone batsman.

Medical staff sprinted to the middle and formed a ring of concern. A medical vehicle appeared and time dragged out as his condition remained unclear.

You don’t usually hear 10,000 people that quiet.

'He was never unconscious'

Some good news from Sri Lanka coach Chandika Hathurusingha on injured opening batsman, Dimuth Karunaratne.#AUSvSL #FoxCricket pic.twitter.com/pBYnmqLxTH

— Fox Cricket (@FoxCricket) February 2, 2019

It must have been awful for Cummins. Perhaps worse for Head, Lyon and Starc who were there that wretched day at the SCG when things went from bad to tragic in terrifying slow motion.

'I wish him all the best'

Pat Cummins talking to @Neroli_M_FOX about the Dimuth Karunaratne moment.#AUSvSL #FoxCricket pic.twitter.com/uWjNALRBEI

— Fox Cricket (@FoxCricket) February 2, 2019

Karunuratne didn’t fall like Hughes, didn’t lose consciousness. He was able to communicate and told the medical staff he had pain in his neck and tingling in his hands.

There was no panic like that day. No agonising wait for ambulances or disbelief as a medical helicopter thudded out of the skies and onto the turf.

A doctor kept Thirimanne still, he was transferred to a stretcher and then a small medical vehicle which took him to an ambulance that was waiting at the back of the stands and had been all day. Medical procedures were thoroughly reviewed in the wake of Hughes’ death, although nothing could have saved him from the injury.

Cummins approached the batsman before he was driven off. Kurtis Patterson said “It’s never nice. You never like seeing that. You want your fast bowlers to be coming out and obviously be aggressive and try to set them up to get the nick, But you never like it when players go down like that. I have’t really heard but I’m hoping he’s OK. I’m hoping he can come out and bat again tomorrow. All of us are in a little bit of shock, but I think everyone’s OK, which is good. So I’m hoping he’s OK to bat again tomorrow”.

Sri Lanka’s Dimuth Karunaratne is taken from the ground on a motorised stretcher. Picture: AFP

Karunuratne’s father and sister were at the game. His dad running to his son’s side as they transferred him to the hospital.

Hughes’ mother and sister had been the day he was struck. They’d driven from the country to see the brilliant batsman earn himself a place back in the Australian cricket side. He’d was 63no and on his way.

The team manager went in the ambulance with Karunuratne, his distressed father and sister in a separate vehicle.

Sri Lanka coach Chandika Hathurusingha said “It was a bit scary at the start, the way he fell back initially. But he was OK. He was talking to the umpires and the physio. He’s in good spirits. He is in no danger at the moment. He was talking to us before he was leaving.”

Cricket is a game that charms with its gentle rhythms but it is deceptively dangerous. A 145kmh bouncer is on a batsman in .45 seconds. It takes incredible skill to handle bowling at that speed but it also takes a braveness few of us have. You can be hurt. Nic Maddinson had his arm broken by a short ball in the Sheffield Shield earlier in the season. You can, as we know, be killed.

It didn’t happen yesterday, but for a sickening period all those terrible thoughts and memories came back.

Thankfully, Karunaratne has been discharged from Canberra hospital following assessment and has had the all clear.