No one to blame for Hughes death — coroner

An inquest into Phillip Hughes' death was held in October, and New South Wales state coroner Michael Barnes said on Friday no blame could be placed on anyone.

The late Phillip Hughes.

No one is to blame for the death of Australia batsman Phillip Hughes in 2014, a coroner has found.

Hughes died at the age of 25 after being struck in the neck by a ball during a Sheffield Shield match, causing a brain hemorrhage. An inquest into his death was held in October, and New South Wales state coroner Michael Barnes said on Friday no blame could be placed on anyone.

"Neither the bowler nor anyone else was to blame for the tragic outcome," he said. "I conclude no failure to enforce the laws of the game contributed to his death."

Barnes also said the short-pitched bowling directed at Hughes was not to blame for the incident.

"Of the 23 bouncers bowled that day, 20 were bowled to him. Phillip was comfortably dealing with short-pitch balls. I conclude they did not contribute to his death," he said. "Hughes was dealt a fatal ball with a high bounce. He could have ducked but such was his competitiveness he wanted to make runs from it. A minuscule misjudgement or a slight error of execution caused him to miss the ball which crashed into his neck with fatal consequences."

Barnes also felt that changes to safety equipment since Hughes' death would not have saved the batsman.