Former New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum says the moment he found out Phil Hughes passed away is something that will stay with him for the rest of his life.
Hughes died after being struck in the head by a bouncer playing for South Australia in a Sheffield Shield match in 2014.
McCullum spoke about the challenges of dealing with the left-hander's passing and how it impacted the way the Kiwis went about their cricket moving forward.
“The moment that I’ll remember for the rest of my life, and it’s not necessarily a performance element, is the moment we found out that Phil Hughes had passed away,” McCullum told SEN Afternoons.
“The impact that it had on our team and the job that I had as captain of New Zealand at the time, to be able to look after the guys and try and navigate ourselves through some emotions, even though we weren’t from Australia and we weren’t super tight with Phil.
“Just the fact that a player playing cricket could pass away in those circumstances just made us all realise that the game at times can be life or death.
“What we stumbled on was that we all care about one another and to just cherish the relationships and the moments that you have as a team.
“I think that transferred into a happy-go-lucky kind of approach with our cricket.”
The destructive batsman called time on his BBL career with Brisbane Heat after eight years at the franchise.
Listen to today's edition of SEN Afternoons with Andy Maher in the player below