‘Young Hughes was not out’

Philip Brown
I must say from the outset that I didn’t know Phil Hughes really well.
He first seemed to burst into the cricket world after scoring two centuries for Australia in a Test in Durban.It was a real statement of intent.

Against an impressive South African attack he hit 34 fours and five sixes in that one Test. Australian Test player number 408 had arrived. Soon after, Hughes signed to play for Middlesex. It was a controversial signing, as some thought it was ridiculous to give this young Australian a chance to play in English conditions just before the important 2009 Ashes series.

I’m sure Hughes just wanted to play cricket. He was a quiet country boy from New South Wales and his father grew bananas. I travelled to Lord’s, my 13-year-old son Rory in tow, with the intention of taking a nice portrait of Hughes.

I managed to grab the friendly, but very shy opening batsman after a Middlesex net session. I must admit that in photo terms I had a complete shocker and didn’t actually get a photograph of him that I was at all happy with. It was the photographic equivalent of being out first ball.

I did manage to shoot him a couple of times in matches in the lead-up to the Test series, and a very exciting batsman he was to photograph. He played shots that no one else played. Hughes was difficult to photograph as he was unpredictable.

Phillip Hughes died “not out”. — Cricinfo

Philip Brown is an Australian freelance cricket photographer based in England.