SOMEWHERE in Perth, a driver owes the quick medical response he received following a heart attack to the legacy of Phillip Hughes.

The same goes for a patron at the WACA, who had to be revived by a doctor during a state game.

Monday marks ten years since cricket’s hardest day, when Hughes was struck in the neck while batting for South Australia at the SCG.

His death, two days later in hospital, prompted an outpouring of grief not matched in Australian sport in the decade since – and for decades previously.

It also became the catalyst for the most wide-sweeping reviews and changes in regard to the health and safety of players this century.

In the years since Hughes’s death, Cricket Australia have conducted and commissioned numerous reviews into the safety of players and potential risks.

Up to 13 policies have since been enacted, while research continued for eight years.

The compulsory use of helmets against fast bowlers was the first and most obvious change in 2016, before the neck guard also became mandatory last year.

But the impacts have been far more wide reaching.

“We started looking at all the dangerous things that can happen in cricket more broadly,” Cricket Australia’s head of sports science and medicine, Alex Kountouris, told AAP.

“We did some research looking at common causes of fatal injuries, and put things in place for them.

“We haven’t had a cardio event, but we’ve got a comprehensive screening policy that started in 2016 as a result of this.

“It also made us look at our concussion policy and update it.”

Medical procedures have also changed, with a paramedic now mandatory at every Cricket Australia controlled game.

Officials also fund and run up to three sport-specific medical emergency courses each year for trainers and doctors, that go well beyond first aid.

Pre-match medical meetings are held both in Australia and worldwide, while there is a set standard for medical coverage at each level of training and matches.

Already, it has made a difference.

A driver for a commentator at last year’s Perth Test collapsed after suffering a heart attack, while a fan at the WACA has also since needed reviving.

On both occasions, the sport’s medical staff were the first responders.

“That’s because of that planning and training,” Kountouris said.

“We had a doctor there (in 2014), we had a medicine doctor there in the crowd at the time. We had all the equipment.

“But it was just more of an awakening that this was possible. We never considered something this significant being possible.”

On the field, cricket has changed too.

While helmets were already commonplace for batsmen, the mandatory regulations cover wicketkeepers up to the stumps and close-in fielders.

Players are also properly sized up for neck guards, with research showing there are around 10 impacts to the area each year at the elite level.

A study conducted by former Australian team doctor Peter Brukner in 2018 also showed there had been 174 trauma-related deaths dating back to 1858 across all types of cricket, from elite to beach and backyard.

Helmets had been shown to dramatically reduce that number, with Hughes one of only three since 2000.

“Our challenge is to make sure the next group of players who weren’t involved, aren’t blase about it – that they are aware serious injury can happen, and that is why it is important to wear protective equipment,” Kountouris said.

“We’re trying to have a legacy for him. It’s definitely made the game safer.”

By Scott BAILEY, AAP