Phillip Hughes' family leaves inquest as fatal blow played to court

Family members of late cricketer Phillip Hughes chose to leave a coronial inquest on Monday, as footage of the brutal delivery that felled the batsman was played to the court.

Aussie cricketers Brad Haddin and Doug Bollinger also appeared at the inquest on Monday to deny claims Hughes was unfairly targeted and sledged while batting for South Australia, which could have contributed to his death.

The 25-year-old was struck to the neck by a bouncer from NSW paceman Sean Abbott at the SCG during a Sheffield Shield match in November, 2014. He died two days later without ever regaining consciousness.

Like Hughes' family, a number of Australian cricketers who were on the field at the time have also requested not to view the blow Hughes suffered.

Retired Australian wicketkeeper Brad Haddin said he saw Hughes get hit but didn't know which part of his body had been struck.

"He looked OK for a second then it was something like I've never witnessed before in my life," he said.

"It was the noise that he let out. The groan and the way he fell ... straight down motionless."

Describing Hughes’ death as a “terrible accident”, Coroner Michael Barnes is examining the response to Hughes' injury, the media coverage of the death, whether the nature of play contributed to risk and whether different equipment could make players safer.

Bollinger denied claims he told Hughes words to the effect of "I'm going to kill you" or "I'm going to kill youse" as he bowled at the 25-year-old, who was batting for South Australia.

"I don't recall saying that," Bollinger said at the Downing Centre on Monday. "I may have but I don't think so."

Bollinger did concede he may have said something to Hughes’ batting partner Tom Cooper.

Haddin agreed he had no recollection of Bollinger “mouthing off” on the day, and said concerns from Hughes' family that the 25-year-old was unfairly targeted by short balls from the NSW bowlers were not justified.

Fellow Aussie David Warner, who is currently on tour with the side in South Africa and due to give evidence via video, had claimed there was a plan by NSW to move Hughes backwards by bowling at or over leg stump.

The death of Hughes, a 25-year-old who had risen through the ranks to play for his country, stunned Australia and the world's cricketing community, sparking an outpouring of grief.

Counsel assisting the coroner Kristina Stern said Hughes had been excited about playing that day, with his mother and sister watching from the stands, as he worked to regain a place on the national team.

After he was struck cricketers and medical staff raced to help Hughes, but Stern noted the first person to call for an ambulance was unaware of the severity of the injury and that it took about an hour to get him to a nearby hospital.

But she said none of that seemed to have had an effect on Hughes' death which "appears to have been inevitable from the point of impact".

Nor did there appear to be any defect in the helmet he was wearing at the time, she said.

"The area that Phillip Hughes was hit was an area of his neck on the left hand side which was unprotected," she said.

An independent review into the death, ordered by Cricket Australia, has already been carried out and recommended earlier this year that helmets be compulsory for batsmen and fielders near the wicket.

Cricket boss James Sutherland said his thoughts were with the Hughes family and also with his cricketing friends, and team mates this week.

"Many have had to deal with the trauma of not only losing a mate but also (being) out on the ground at the time of the accident," Sutherland said.

"We never want to see a tragedy like this happen on the cricket field, and to that end we have the utmost respect for the coronial inquest and the process we all need to go through this week."

PHILLIP HUGHES TIMELINE

• Made his first-class debut for NSW in 2007 at age 18

• Scored a century in NSW's 2007-08 Sheffield Shield final win over Victoria at 19

• Made his Test debut against South Africa in February 2009, scoring back-to-back centuries in his second match

• Dropped for the 2009 Ashes series but came back into the side for two Tests against Pakistan and New Zealand in early 2010

• Called into the side for the 2010-11 Ashes in Australia but made just 97 runs in three Tests

• Retained his spot in the Australian touring party for Sri Lanka and South Africa in 2011, but he was dropped during the home series against New Zealand during the Australian 2011-12 summer

• Had a strong start to the Sheffield Shield season and was rewarded with a spot in the Test squad for Sri Lanka's tour of Australia in 2012-13

• After becoming the first Australian batsman to score a century on his ODI debut, he retained his spot for the tours of India and England in 2013

• Made his last Australian appearance in the baggy green in the 2013 second Ashes Test, in which he made one in both innings

• Felled by a bouncer playing for South Australia against NSW in a Sheffield Shield match at the SCG on November 25, 2014

• Taken to hospital where he is placed in an induced coma because of the blow

• Does not regain consciousness and dies at Sydney's St Vincent's Hospital on November 27, aged 25.

• Nationally televised funeral on December 3 for the cricketer in home town of Macksville, NSW.

• Cricket Australia releases independent report in May 2016 into the batman's death recommending helmets be mandatory for fielders close to the pitch. Australian Bar Association president David Curtain SC finds Hughes received appropriate medical attention after being struck until ambulance arrived.

• Week-long inquest into the batsman's death starts in Sydney on October 10.