Phil Hughes death: Ball split major artery in neck, causing 'massive bleed' in brain

An unconscious Phil Hughes was loaded onto a stretcher after the impact. Credit: Cricket Australia / AAP

Australian batsman Phil Hughes died after a "catastrophic" head injury caused by a cricket ball splitting a major artery at the base of his neck, doctors said.

"Philip took the blow at the side of his neck, and as a result of that blow, his vertebral artery, one of the main arteries leading to the brain, was compressed by the ball," team doctor Peter Brukner said at a press conference on Thursday.

"That caused the artery to split, and for bleeding to go up into the brain. And he has a massive bleed into his brain."

Hughes, 25, had twisted his head to avoid a delivery that bounced high towards his face, exposing the base of his neck.

Phil Hughes in action for Australia last year. Credit: PA

Tony Grabs, trauma director at St Vincent's Hospital in Sydney, said: "The head injury he suffered was catastrophic.

"He arrived well incubated, and being resuscitated very well. It was our recognition in the first priority in this situation to get an urgent CAT scan of the head to determine what we can do.

"This CAT scan occurred very early, and it was early recognised that we had to make an intervention into the brain to actually help get pressure down in the brain."

After being struck by the ball, Hughes collapsed face-first onto the pitch.

He was given mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and oxygen on the boundary line after being carried off the pitch on a stretcher.

He was taken to Sydney's St Vincent's Hospital, where he underwent surgery and was being monitored in the intensive care unit until his death on Thursday.

After the initial blow on Tuesday, Masuri, the Winchester-based company which made the helmet worn by Phil Hughes, said the ball had hit an area of the body not covered by the model he was wearing.

“From the footage and pictures currently available to Masuri, it appears that Phil Hughes was struck by the ball to the rear of the grille and below the back of the shell, missing his Masuri Original Test model helmet," the firm said in a statement.

“This is a vulnerable area of the head and neck that helmets cannot fully protect, while enabling batsmen to have full and proper movement.

“The newly-developed Masuri Vision Series helmet, which supersedes the 2013 helmet worn by Phil Hughes, does afford batsmen extra protection in this region – and still allows comfortable movement.”