Tom Cooper has recounted the horrifying moment friend and teammate Phillip Hughes was fatally hit by a cricket ball 10 years ago.
On the first day of the second Test against India at the Adelaide Oval, the Australian team wore black armbands to remember Hughes and mark the anniversary of his death.
Cooper was batting at the other end for South Australia in the Sheffield Shield against New South Wales when Hughes was hit in the neck by a bouncer and collapsed on the Sydney Cricket Ground turf.
Now-retired Cooper spoke to ABC Sport at tea on day one at the Adelaide Oval about the moment.
"He sort of swung around and at first I thought he looked at me. I was waiting for his cheeky grin but … yeah," he said.
Cooper said players from both sides were immediately concerned by a cut on Hughes's cheek from falling on the grill of his helmet, before it became clear something much worse was happening.
"I guess at that moment, no-one had any idea of the severity of what everyone had just witnessed," he said.
Cooper lived with Hughes and was a pall-bearer at his funeral. (Getty Images: Morne De Klerk/Cricket Australia)
"Pretty quickly we knew it was a bit more serious and he wasn't just going to get up, but we still didn't know what had actually happened.
"It felt like hours waiting for the ambulance to come. He was obviously [unconscious] and in hindsight was … gone, I guess.
"I remember Steve O'Keefe was in there trying to hold his head, but everyone just couldn't fathom what had just happened. And time was sort of at a standstill."
Two days later Hughes died, aged 25, on November 27, 2014.
Cooper, who lived with Hughes when he moved from NSW to the Redbacks, was a pall-bearer at Hughes's funeral.
"He was everyone's mate," Cooper said.
"Everyone thought they were best mates with him, whether they played club cricket, whether they played in the Test side, it didn't matter who they were, he made you feel like you mattered and that you were his mate.
"I think the people from around the world that flew in for his funeral goes to show that. Mateship is a word that stands out for me.
"[He was] a country boy living his dream. Or maybe not, because I think cows were more important than cricket [to him]. 'If I keep playing cut shots and cover drives, I can buy more cows' was a saying he always said.
"It was just, it was a surreal experience. And to think it was 10 years ago, it blows my mind."