WESTERN Zone batsman Jordan Moran will have more reason than most to fire at this weekend's NSW Country Championships southern pool carnival in Griffith, with the Dubbo-based wicketkeeper-batsman still reeling from the injury suffered by good friend Phil Hughes on Tuesday.
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Hughes underwent emergency brain surgery after being struck in the head by a bouncer from Sean Abbott in the Sheffield Shield match between NSW and South Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
The incident sent shockwaves through the sporting fraternity, with thousands of wellwishers taking to social media to send their support to the 25-year-old, described by Moran as a 'great bloke'.
The pair spent six years opening the batting together for various North Coast junior representative teams.
"Phil played with Macksville and I played with Bellingen up on the coast, but we played a lot of rep cricket together and it made me feel pretty sick when I saw what happened to him,” Moran said.
"Everyone is just hoping and praying the news is good."
Moran said there was a huge support base surrounding the family at St Vincent's Hospital.
"You never really go out on to a cricket field thinking something like this will happen,” he said.
“It's a freakish thing and I think everyone is in a huge amount of shock.”
"But there's a lot of people helping his family out. Hughesy played most of his cricket in NSW and I know Michael Clarke, Davey Warner and Dan Smith have been there with them.
"It's just great that there's so many people there to be by his side and by his family's side."