Alastair Cook, England’s captain, said discussions had taken place about whether to play the second ODI against Sri Lanka on Saturday but that the players from both sides wanted the game to go ahead as a tribute to Phillip Hughes, whose death on Thursday has left the cricket world stricken with grief. The players will wear black armbands, with a two-minute silence to be observed before the start.
Hughes played against and alongside several members of the England squad and individuals will be free to opt out, should they choose. Moeen Ali, at Worcestershire, and Steven Finn and Eoin Morgan at Middlesex were team-mates of Hughes during time spent in county cricket, and the most likely to be affected, but the feeling is that everyone wants to be involved.
Cook, an Ashes opponent on several occasions, spoke in thoughtful, measured tones about Hughes’ sudden passing after being hit by a bouncer, describing it as a “real reminder of how precious life is”. He said that player safety had inevitably been talked about but echoed the comments of doctors who called the accident “freakish” in nature.
In a mark of how widely Hughes was held in affection, Cook spoke of chatting about batting technique as left-handers and their shared love of farming. The England team also took part in the #putoutyourbats campaign, with a picture posted on Twitter. “We might be playing for different sides and different countries but we’re pretty much the same guys, trying to do our best for our teams at a sport we love,” Cook said.
England and Sri Lanka will meet at the R Premadasa Stadium for the second time in four days and Cook said the intention was to “show our respects in the right way for Phil and try and put on a good show”. He acknowledged that some of the match’s intensity might be lost but said that the team would try to play in the same manner as always, rather than dwell on the inherent danger of facing a projectile sent down with life-threatening force.
“It was a really sad day yesterday, a tragic day for cricket and the words I say here aren’t go to do it justice,” Cook said. “It’s an incredibly sad changing room for us and all our thoughts are with Hughes’ family and friends and those Australian players who knew him so well.
“As we know, this is a real tragic accident. I don’t think we should change the way we play cricket at all because I don’t think that’s the right way to go about it. We’ve got to make sure that we keep working as hard as we can, manufacturers and the authorities, to make cricket as safe as we can. This is a real reminder to everyone that we can’t take anything for granted, we’ve got to keep trying to improve player safety, even though improvements even since I started playing cricket have gone through the roof, especially helmets and the technology going into them.”
Cook, a confident hooker and puller of the ball, said the events of the past few days were “a real reminder of how dangerous it can be” out in the middle. He will try not to let the possibility of being hit affect his approach to the game, however.
“I certainly won’t change the way I play, it’s a natural thing and you cannot have those doubts when you walk out to bat, because you won’t be playing very well. It’s not right to talk about it right now but the game of cricket will move on. But it’s a real reminder of how precious life is and how lucky we are to be playing cricket.”
The last of Hughes’ 26 Tests came against England at Lord’s in 2013 and he played in each of the preceding two Ashes series. He also made a big impact in the domestic game during stints at Hampshire, Middlesex and Worcestershire.
“I’ll remember him as an outstanding talent,” Cook said. “I remember talking to him a fair bit after the series in 2013 and obviously both being left-handed opening batsmen – we probably went about things in a very different way but still pick each other’s brain. His love of farming as well, with his cattle, gave us some ground to talk on. He’s one of the guys I would have chatted to at the end of the game.”
One of his final innings was an unbeaten 81 at Trent Bridge last year, as No. 11 Ashton Agar made 98 at the other end. Cook was the frustrated England captain looking on. “It just showed what a good player he was going to become, there’s absolutely no doubt. You don’t have a record in first-class cricket as good as he did, in all conditions, and not go on and be an outstanding Test player. There’s no doubt in my mind that he would have been a fantastic player for Australia and to be cut short like that is a tragedy.”
