On November 16, Australia lost its 27th Test captain Ian Craig and his passing left barely a ripple on the Australian public, excepting some eulogies in the sports media.
In fact, Sheffield Shield players in the South Australia versus Victoria game taking place at the time did not even wear black armbands, leaving some long-time cricket commentators disappointed.
Craig played just 11 Tests for Australia, between 1953 and 1958.
For such a short career, he achieved much: he was the youngest Australian Test cricketer and became the youngest man ever to have captained his country.
So much was expected of this young man that he was labeled the next Don Bradman, an 'honour' with mixed blessings bestowed on many young Australian cricketers over the next 50 years.
It was a false title because, as we all know, there could only be one Don.
Like Craig, Phillip Hughes, who passed away just 11 days later, was a young batting prodigy who came from New South Wales and was labeled the 'next big thing'; thankfully, the title of the 'next Don Bradman' being passed to talented batsmen had all but faded by the time Hughes made his Test debut against South Africa, 56 years after Craig had stepped out to face the same country.
Hughes' youth at the time of selection, 20, saw him also go on to achieve records for his nation – the youngest player to score two centuries in the same Test being the most notable.
Both men were born in rural New South Wales; Craig in Yass, and Hughes in Macksville.
By all reports, they were unaffected by the fame which playing for their nation attracted to them.
Craig's career was short, only five years, and featured just two half-centuries.
Illness and then a business career curtailed what could have been a lengthy stay under the Baggy Green.
A pharmacist, Craig eventually became the Australian manager of a significant pharmaceutical business and remained involved in cricket as an administrator, passing away in that famous cricketing town of Bowral, aged 79.
And that is where the tragedy lies in the death of Phillip Hughes.
Our nation has not mourned the loss of a player in the midst of his career since the infinitely talented Archie Jackson (who played his first Test as a 19 year old), died at the age of 23 in 1933, during the infamous Bodyline tour.
Ian Craig retired from cricket at the age of 26, a milestone Hughes was to have attained on Sunday.
While we will never know whether Hughes would have played Tests for Australia again and we will never know how many runs he would have scored, the real tragedy is that he was so young.
While Ian Craig's passing was sad, it came at the end of a life that had achieved much and given to so many.
Like Archie Jackson before him, Phillip Hughes will never have that chance.
And that is the reason so much grief has been expressed by cricket lovers across the world.