If he had died in a road accident would there still have been the same reaction?
Probably not to the same extent, Colin. It may well be because nothing like this had ever happened before in first class cricket, or perhaps many of the players felt "that could have been me", I don't know. Had he died in a car crash I'm certain that there would have been the same grief, but the fact that it happened on a cricket ground somehow made it very different.
Australia is a sport loving nation, as you may have guessed, but there are also many, like yourself, who are not very involved, however the vast majority are. The Australian cricket captain has, for as long as I can remember, occupied a special place in people's minds, far greater than the captain of any other sport's national team. Perhaps it's because cricket is the common denominator in sport. It could also be that the sporting press has made it so. There are four main codes of football played in Australia, Australian Rules, Rugby Union, Rugby League and the real football, or soccer as it's widely known here, but all states play cricket at first class level. There is a saying here that sport is not a matter of life or death, it is far more important than that.
I also don't believe that Australian cricket will never be the same again. It will take time, but the cliche, "time is a great healer" is true, and it will recover. The early part of this season will be extremely hard for some, but they will get over it eventually, and move on. That's not to say that Phillip Hughes will be forgotten, far from it, in most cricket lovers' minds he will always be 63 not out.
Just as a footnote, there was a story in the news a couple of days ago of a young lad in a junior match who scored 37 then walked off the pitch. When asked why he replied, "I have just completed Phillip Hughes' final century".
Peter.