WORCESTERSHIRE director of cricket Steve Rhodes said Phil Hughes would be remembered as the ‘quiet team man with a cheeky smile’.

Rhodes says Worcestershire’s players, coaches and supporters are ‘shocked and saddened’ by the death of the Australian batsman at the age of 25.

Hughes was a popular figure when he played for Worcestershire during the 2012 season.

He died in hospital two days after injuries suffered while batting for South Australia against New South Wales in the Sheffield Shield match at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

Hughes, who was wearing a protective helmet, collapsed on the pitch after being hit by a ball on the lower left side of his head from pace bowler Sean Abbott as he attempted a pull shot.

Hughes had CPR and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation before being taken to hospital and placed in an induced coma.

Rhodes said: “The players, coaches and supporters of Worcestershire are shocked and saddened to lose such a talented cricketer and tremendous friend at such a tender age.

“Phil was popular with everyone at New Road and our thoughts go out to his family in this difficult time.

“His life has been taken away playing a game he loved on a cricket ground he loved in his home state of New South Wales.

“He will long be remembered for his run-making ability, but in the dressing rooms where he padded up we will all remember the quiet team man sat in the corner with a cheeky smile who was ‘Hughesie’.

“The thing about Hughesie is you tend to forget he was a really young bloke when he came to us and in some ways an immature dressing room — in terms of their ages — were excited by such a gifted Test cricketer coming to join us.

“They weren’t sure how he was going to be and when he came he was very much a down-to-earth country boy who just wanted to get on and play cricket.

“He went down so well with the team and everyone. There was no ‘I’m a Test cricketer’ about him. He was just a colleague in the team.”

Rhodes added: “I think what he enjoyed about Worcestershire was the fact the team were so close.

“The spirit in the dressing room was so good and socially we're altogether and live quite close together which suited him fine.

“The place itself was not a big city which suited him, he preferred the country life, and the overall ambience and nature of Worcestershire is what appealed to him.

“He was very well liked because he didn’t have a bad word to say about anyone and had a cheeky sort of personality, very happy and very smiley and was a real popular member of the Worcestershire side.

“He was a good role model, a good professional and in many ways that easy going country boy, farming type who sat in a corner and got on with his job which was scoring runs.

“He was well liked, the lads loved him, loved his company.”

Skipper Mitchell leads County tributes

WORCESTERSHIRE skipper Daryl Mitchell led the tributes to Phil Hughes, whom he described as a ‘top man who will be sadly missed.”

“He was a top lad and had time for everybody, a lot of dressing room banter, a cheeky chappie,” recalled Mitchell.

“Whether it was Dave Bradley, the pavilion attendant, a junior pro or a senior player or even management, he had the same amount of time for everybody and same level of mickey-taking across the board.

“He was a country boy and proud of where he was from and I think that is what drew him to Worcester so much, and how he loved his time here in a small city."

Mitchell added: “He was a top man and will be sadly missed.”

Hughes was on the verge of regaining his place in the Australian Test team, and was unbeaten on 63, when the tragedy occurred.

Mitchell said: “It’s a devastating blow really, 63 not out forever now which is a really sad thing.

“I know Phil had kept in contact with a lot of us via text messages and we’d have loved to have seen him back here. If we were ever after a batter, he would have been top of the list.”

Other Worcestershire coac-hes and players expressed their sadness at Hughes’ death.

Worcestershire assistant coach Matt Mason said: “Our club has lost another great player and true friend. You will always be remembered as a Worcestershire lad by us all. RIP mate.”

Paceman Jack Shantry said: “It hasn’t sunk in, won’t for a while. Was a pleasure to have played with and known Phil.”

All-rounder Joe Leach said: “Thoughts with Phil’s family. Hopefully they can take some comfort in the amount of love being shown to Phil.”

Tributes have also flooded in from all over the world.

Australia skipper Michael Clarke addressed the media on behalf of Hughes’ family.

“We’re devastated by the loss of our much-loved son and brother Phillip. Cricket was Phillip’s life, and we as a family shared that love of the game with him. We love you,” said Clarke.

Former Australia leg-spinner Shane Warne said: “Woken to the horrific news about Hughesy. I cannot describe the sadness I feel for the Hughes family and fellow cricket players, so so sad."

Former Worcestershire all-rounder Ian Botham said: “A very sad day for the world of cricket. So sorry for Phillip Hughes and his family.

"Spare a thought for Sean Abbott.”

New Road success boosted Test aims

PHIL Hughes acknowledged his successful spell at New Road was vital to regaining his Australian Test spot for the 2013 Ashes series.

The hard-hitting left-hander struck two Championship hundreds during his spell at New Road in 2012 as he averaged 35 for Worcestershire in the four-day format.

Hughes averaged 100.5 in the Friends Life Twenty20 competition and 83 in Worcestershire’s Clydesdale Bank 40 campaign.

Skipper Daryl Mitchell said: “Cricket-wise Phil was fantastic for us, particularly in white ball cricket.

“He carried us through to the quarter-finals really with the runs he got in that competition. He had a fantastic T20.

Mitchell added: “The weight of runs he got at Worcester and at the start of the Australian domestic season got him back in the Test side.”

Director of cricket Steve Rhodes said: “We just wanted to give Phil a platform to try to help him get back into the Australian side.

“But the main work was done by Phil.

“We gave him an opportunity to get back in there and play and he managed to do it.”

In the Ashes series in England in 2013, Hughes scored an unbeaten 81 at No 6 to put on 163 for the last wicket with the debutant No 11 Ashton Agar at Trent Bridge.

But he was dropped after the Lord’s Test, and that proved to be his last Test appearance.

Hughes played a total of 26 Tests for Australia, including participation in three Ashes series against England, and had contracts not just with his native New South Wales (2007-12), but with Middlesex (2009), Hampshire (2010), and, of course, Worcestershire.

From 2012 onwards he plied his trade with South Australia, and from 2013 with the Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League.

Hughes had a promising one-day international career in front of him, having become the first Australian to score a century on his one-day debut, against Sri Lanka in Melbourne in 2013.

His average from 25 one-day internationals was 35.91, and in Test cricket it stood at 32.65.

In first-class cricket, in which he hit 26 hundreds, Hughes averaged 46.51 with a top score of 243 not out for Australia 'A' versus South Africa 'A' in August.