"The innocence of the game of cricket went immediately," Watson said. "I always knew that you could get hurt of course ... if a ball went through my helmet I could fracture my face or my eye socket or jaw or whatever it was but never ever contemplated that you could actually get killed.

"I had a two-year-old son at that stage. Will was two and just the thought that went through and continued to go through my mind for a long period of time, was 'what if that was me?'. Like what happens to my family, not just my mum and dad, but my wife and my son."

The 36-year-old retired from international cricket in 2016, last playing Tests and one day internationals on Australia's tour of England in 2015, before walking away from internationals altogether at the end of the World Twenty20 the following year – and says that the shock death of his former teammate attributed to a decline in his own abilities to play against fast bowling.

Watson's Test average after the incident slumped to 28.25, and he failed to make a century in any of those 12 post-Hughes innings, reaching his half-century only twice – well below his career average of 35.19.

"That's where subconsciously the fear just continued to be there for a long period of time. Until I actually really understood how to deal with it. To be able to one, talk about it as a starting point, because I could not talk about it if anyone ever bought it up or anything I just shut it down."