Barely two months after the tragic death of Philip Hughes, Daniel his namesake was felled by a bouncer from Cameron Nupier in a first-grade game between Northern Districts and Blacktown. The spectators at the ground had a concerned look as Daniel Hughes was admitted into a hospital. The bumper had hit him just under his ear. He recovered pretty well.
But in October 2016, Hughes again went down and this time it was Peter Siddle who inflicted the blow. Hughes playing for NSW then became the first player to be substituted under Cricket Australia's new concussion protocol. He was replaced by Nick Larkin, who was neither needed with the bat or the ball as NSW won the contest by 31 runs.
A hard hitting top-order batsman, Daniel Hughes's pyrotechnics in the McDonald's Sydney Grade Competition and Toyota Futures League got him a debut cap for NSW in the 2013-14 season. In the BBL, Daniel has turned up for Sydney Sixers. He missed the fifth season of BBL but has been regular for them at the top of the order. Hughes has a had wonderful start to his list A career and was in prolific form in the JLT One Day cup for the 2017-18 season.
By Kumar Abhisekh Das
