Thursday, November 27, 2014

Phillip Hughes dead: Australian cricketer dies after bouncer at SCG

Phillip Hughes

Phillip Hughes

Australian cricketer Phillip Hughes has died in hospital, two days after he was struck on the head by a cricket ball while playing in a Sheffield Shield match at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
Australian team doctor Peter Brukner said in a statement released by Cricket Australia on Thursday afternoon that Hughes had died at St Vincent's Hospital.
Peter Brukner, Australia team doctor, said he never regained consciousness and died in hospital in Sydney.
"He was not in pain before he passed and was surrounded by his family and close friends," he said in a statement.
"As a cricket community we mourn his loss and extend our deepest sympathies to Phillip's family and friends at this incredibly sad time. Cricket Australia kindly asks that the privacy of the Hughes family, players and staff be respected."
In an incident that has stunned the cricketing community in Australia and abroad, Hughes, 25, was hit on side of the head while attempting to hook a ball during an inter-state Sheffield Shield match at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Tuesday.
Hughes, who was wearing a helmet, appeared to compose himself but then leant forward and collapsed face first onto the pitch. The batsman, who played 26 Tests for Australia, was taken to hospital and remained in an induced coma.
Tony Abbott, Australian Prime Minister, led tributes.
"His death is a very sad day for cricket and a heartbreaking day for his family. What happened has touched millions of Australians," he said.

"For a young life to be cut short playing our national game seems a shocking aberration. He was loved, admired and respected by his teammates and by legions of cricket fans."
Australian cricketers past and present took to Twitter to express their sorrow.

Australian cricketers have gathered at the Sydney Cricket Ground and wandered out one-by-one to pay tribute to Phillip Hughes on the pitch where he was killed.
Those seen making their way to the centre of the empty ground included Michael Clarke, the Australian captain.
The death of Hughes, a former Test batsman, has devastated Australia’s tight-knit cricketing community. In the past two days, players have been seen crying as they have come and gone from St Vincent’s hospital, where Hughes was in intensive care.

Australia has been preparing to play a test against India but it is not clear whether it will go ahead.
“The game will go on – it has to – but it is a sad loss for the game of cricket,” former Australian captain Mark Taylor told Channel Nine. “He [Hughes] was a good country lad. He was really the quintessential Australian cricketer. You don’t expect this to happen and even when he got hit, you think he will bounce back.”
Taylor expressed sympathy for Sean Abbott, who bowled the bouncer which struck Hughes.
“I hope Sean Abbott can forgive himself because the cricket community doesn’t blame him at all.”
A tribute to Hughes in Sydney's Daily Telegraph said the day "will forever be remembered as one the most sorrowful days in Australian cricket's 138-year history".
"Cricket's saddest day is upon us," wrote Robert Craddock and Peter Badel.
"For deep-seated shock and sadness it is doubtful whether any incident has caused more widespread grief than this heartbreaking tale of a strong-willed young cricketer playing an innings, expecting to see him recalled to the Test team and suddenly losing his life... The devastation of Hughes' death is deep and widespread and stretches far beyond the boundary of cricket and even sport."

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Thursday, November 13, 2014

Rohit Sharma smashes highest ever ODI score with 264 for India against Sri Lanka

  • Rohit Sharma is the first player to score two ODI double centuries 
  • His 264 at Eden Gardens, Kolkata, came off just 173 balls
  • The innings overtakes Virender Sehwag's 219 against West Indies 
  • India set Sri Lanka 405 for victory at 8.10 an over to win their fourth ODI 
  • Sharma's score alone beat the 251 Sri Lanka managed before being all out
Rohit Sharma scored the highest ever individual score in a one-day international and became the first player to score two career double centuries in a 50-over match with 264 against Sri Lanka. 
The sensational innings on a batsman-friendly Kolkata came off 173 balls with 33 fours and nine sixes, and only ended on the last ball of India's innings as Sharma holed out in the deep.
Sharma said he was 'ready to bat another 50 overs' after walking off the Eden Gardens with his side on a formidable 404 for five after winning the toss and batting first. His score alone would have won the match by 13 runs after the visitors were all out in the 44th over for 251.

Sri Lanka were made to pay for dropping the destructive 27-year-old in the fifth over with his tally just four runs at the time.  
Sharma's innings demolishes Virender Sehwag's previous record of a 149-ball 219 against the West Indies in 2011. Sharma also has the third top score in ODIs with his 209 off 158 balls against Australia in November last year.
Sharma's knock got off to a modest start with the opener reaching his hundred in even time, with his first 50 off 72 balls and his second 50 in a swift 28 deliveries.
From then it was a procession for the right-hander. His third 50 took 25 balls and the 50 up to his 200 took just 26 deliveries. With the end in sight, and Sharma looking to cash in knowing 350 is an achievable target at this ground, he reached 250 in a further 15 balls. 

TOP 10 ODI INNINGS OF ALL TIME 

1) ROHIT SHARMA (India) 264 (173 balls) v Sri Lanka, November 13, 2014
2) VIRENDER SEHWAG (India) 219 (149 ball) v West Indies, December 8, 2011
3) ROHIT SHARMA (India) 209 (158 balls) v Australia, November 2, 2013
4) SACHIN TENDULKAR (India) 200* (147 balls) v South Africa, February 24, 2010
5) CHARLES COVENTRY (Zimbabwe) 194* (156 balls) v Bangladesh, August 16, 2009
6) SAEED ANWAR (Pakistan) 194 (146 balls) v India, May 21, 1997
7) VIV RICHARDS (West Indies) 189* (170 balls) v England, May 31, 1984
8) MARTIN GUPTILL (New Zealand) 189* (155 balls) v England, June 2, 2013
9) SANATH JAYASURIYA (Sri Lanka) 189 (161 balls) v India, October 29, 2000
10) GARY KIRSTEN (South Africa) 188* (159 balls) v UAE February 16, 1996

'Once I got to 50 I knew I had to make a century because it was a good batting wicket and we knew 350 was easily chaseable. That made me stay there as long as possible,' Sharma said on Sky Sports 2. 
'It is important to look at the team score as that is how you build an innings.' 
Had opening bowler Nuwan Kulasekara been given his full allocation of 10 overs he could have made a century of his own after going for 89 runs off nine overs at a rate of 9.88. 
His only consolation was that it was off his bowling that Sharma's wicket fell, with the rampant 27-year-old finding the safe hands of Mahela Jayawardene instead of the middle of his bat.
Coming into this match, Sharma had scored 142 for an India A side ina  warm-up against the Sri Lankans - his last knock before that was in August against England in Cardiff where he injured his hand.
Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar are the only other players to have reached 200 in an ODI.
One record Sharma fell short of was for the highest score for a limited-overs match, falling a single shot along the ground short of Alistair Brown's 268 for Surrey in 2002.
India got off to the perfect start with the ball, removing Sri Lankan opener Kusal Perera without scoring with the third ball of their first over.
Despite a mid-innings fightback from Angelo Mathews (75) and Lahiru Thiramine (59) the target proved a task too great and India took a 4-0 series lead with one match remaining.

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