Cricketer Phillip Hughes died

After becoming the youngest batsman ever to make two centuries  in the same Test - achieving the feat away to South Africa as a  20-year-old in 2009 - some respected judges drew similarities  between Hughes and Bradman.

At the time, Hughes' average of 87.50 was almost in the realm of  the Don's iconic 99.94.

But despite Hughes' rare talent, those numbers were never going  to be sustainable over the long term for anyone whose surname  wasn't Bradman.

Hughes' on-field struggles saw him in and out of the Test squad  over the subsequent five years, as his average dropped to 32.66.

At one stage he was dropped after being dismissed four times in  as many innings in near identical fashion by New Zealand paceman  Chris Martin.

His strength, playing so daringly outside off-stump, also became  his weakness; opposing Test teams stacking fielders behind the  wicket and giving him little width until he almost invariably  slashed at one ball too many.

The most recent of his 26 Tests was against England in mid-2013.

But even as the faith of the Australian selectors seemingly  dimmed, Hughes never lost belief he could reproduce the form that  saw him put South African greats Dale Steyn, Mahkaya Ntini and  Morne Morkel to the sword in 2009.

He never complained when the selectors' axe fell.

He just went back to first-class cricket and kept making runs -  plenty of them as evidenced by a tally of 8960 at an average of  46.19 with 26 hundreds and 45 half-centuries.

A move from NSW to South Australia seemed to be paying  dividends, with a fine start to the current season having him on  the verge of another Test recall heading into the ill-fated Shield  clash at the SCG.

That impression only strengthened as he batted with confidence  against a strong Blues attack before being struck a fearful blow by  Abbott.

Hughes turned his head slightly as the ball rose, footage  suggesting he was hit in the lower part of the back of his head.

Players and medical staff came to his aid as he fell face first  to the pitch.

It was later revealed that Hughes was not wearing the most  up-to-date version of the Masuri batting helmet although it may  well not have made any difference.

Cricket at the highest level is indisputably a much safer game  than in the pre-helmets era when bowlers were also often aided by  uncovered pitches.

But the threat of serious injury - or much worse - posed by  express bowlers to even the best of batsmen is still never far from  the surface.

Even so, fatalities on the cricket field at the elite level are  very rare.

In 1998, Indian Raman Lamba died when he was struck on the head  by the ball while fielding at short leg without a helmet.

Pakistani wicketkeeper Abdul Aziz died while batting after being  hit over the heart in the 1958-59 Quaid-e-Azam Trophy final, while  Lancashire's Ian Folley passed away in 1993 after being struck in  the head while playing for Whitehaven.

Earlier this month, Hughes' former NSW teammate Ben Rohrer was  felled by a savage bouncer by Victorian quick Chris Tremain.

At first sight it looked every bit as bad as the blow that  struck Hughes, Rohrer staggering and dropping to the side of the  pitch.

He was taken from the field on a stretcher, sent to hospital for  scans and left with a nasty welt under his ear - but Rohrer was  cleared of any serious damage and was available to play again.

Tragically Hughes won't get the chance to do the same.