AUSTRALIAN batsman Phillip Hughes died on Thu­rs­day from an injury to his head, two days after being struck by a bouncer during a domestic first class match.

The surgeon who treated Hughes said the 25-year-old cricketer had died from a rare injury — there have been only 100 documented cases of vertebral artery dissection — which resulted in severe bleeding on his brain.

Australian captain Michael Clarke, trying to compose himself several times, read a brief statement on behalf of Hughes’s family at a news conference at the hospital where Hughes was operated upon.

The death plunged the cricket world into mourning. The Pakistan and New Zealand boards decided to call off the second day’s play in the third Test at Sharjah, agreeing to extend the match by one day. The Test will now end on Monday.

Published in Dawn, November 28th, 2014