Phil Hughes' family pay emotional tribute to young cricketer, 17, who tragically passed away after being struck by a cricket ball

The family of late Australian cricket star Phil Hughes have issued an emotional message to the family of a 17-year-old cricketer who tragically passed away on Thursday after he was struck by a cricket ball.

Ben Austin was rushed to the hospital in a critical condition following the incident at Wally Tew Reserve in Ferntree Gully in Melbourne's southeast on Tuesday.

The young cricketer was batting in the nets when the incident took place. He was understood to be wearing a helmet.

Hughes, a former Test batsman, tragically passed away at the age of 25 after he was struck on the neck by a bouncing cricket ball during a Sheffield Shield match in 2014.

His family have since issued a tribute to Ben and their condolences to his family.

'We would like to send our deepest condolences to the Austin family for the loss of their adored son and brother, Ben,' the Hughes family said in a statement.

'Our thoughts are with you, the Ferntree Gully Cricket Club and the greater cricket community as we think of Ben and his love of cricket.

'We send our warmest sympathies as you navigate through this time, as we know all too well…and hope your cherished memories of Ben comfort you.'

The Club's president, Lee Thompson, told reporters: 'The club's thoughts are with Ben's family, his extended family and to all those who knew Ben and the joy he brought into their lives.

'You'll always be a Gully boy Benny, our beautiful, respectful boy.'

Cricket Victoria chief Nick Cummins confirmed that the cricketer had been struck on the neck by a ball.

'The details are still fairly scant, because we're dealing with people who've suffered significant trauma, but our understanding is that a group of boys were having a practice session, and a boy was hit with a ball that was thrown with a side arm and hit him in the neck in a similar accident like Phil Hughes suffered 10 years ago,' Cummins said in a statement.

'He was treated on site by members of the club who had first aid experience. They had a defibrillator there as well. Very quickly, got emergency services there. Ambulance, the CFA were there too. Was taken to Monash Hospital. So he got care very quickly.'

During today's Sheffield Shield match between Western Australia and Queensland, players from both sides were seen wearing black armbands in tribute to the promising young cricketer.

Members of the cricketing world and Ferntree Gully locals arrived at Wally Tew Reserve to lay flowers and leave their cricket bats out at the training centre in homage to the young cricketer.

His team, the Ferntree Gully Cricket Club, took to Facebook asking people to 'put your bats out for Benny', a tribute that replicates those that were made when Hughes passed away.

Many from the cricket community took to social media to pay tribute to the young cricketer, with many posting photographs of themselves leaving their bats out, with the hashtag #batsoutforben.

Ferntree Gully, announced on Thursday that Ben had been taken to hospital and placed on life support but had sadly passed away.

'Ferntree Gully Cricket Club wishes to advise of the tragic passing of our player, Ben Austin,' a post read.

'We are absolutely devastated by the passing of Ben, and the impact of his death will be felt by all in our cricket community.

'Our thoughts and prayers are with his family - Jace, Tracey, Cooper and Zach, his extended family, his friends and to all of those who knew Ben and the joy that he brought.'

Ben's parents thanked Ambulance Victoria, police, the Monash Children's Hospital and witnesses who rushed to the teen's aid.

'This tragedy has taken Ben from us, but we find some comfort that he was doing something he did for so many summers – going down to the nets with mates to play cricket,' his father Jace said.

'He loved cricket and it was one of the joys of his life.

'We would also like to support his teammate who was bowling in the nets – this accident has impacted two young men and our thoughts are with him and his family as well.

'We would like to thank the cricket community for their support since Tuesday evening and to the dozens of people who visited Ben in hospital.

'Finally, we would also like to thank all the first responders at the scene and the staff at Monash Children's Hospital who worked so hard to help Ben. We will cherish Ben forever.'

Others from the cricketing world, including English cricket great Kevin Pietersen took to social media to send his condolences to Ben's family.

'Horrific news of a young 17-year-old boy who got struck by a cricket ball in the nets yesterday in Melbourne and sadly passed away. Thoughts with all his family and friends! Cricket family,' the former batsman wrote.

Australian cricket legend Merv Hughes was another who paid tribute.

'It's just not the Ferntree Gully community that's feeling it, it's the cricket community worldwide, there's no doubt about that,' Hughes.

Ben has been remembered as a talented cricketer who played at a representative level for the local district.

'All of our thoughts, prayers and love are with Ben's family at a time of unimaginable grief,' Ferntree Gully and District Cricket Association President Arnie Walters said.

'Ben - who was both talented and popular in local cricket - is an enormous loss to our local community.

'I know how heavily this news will land across our community, and we will provide any and all support we can to our clubs and cricket family.'

The Rowville Sports Academy student was also a talented footballer at Waverley Park Hawks JFC, where he was named the under-17s best and fairest runner-up and best finals player this season.

'Ben was a kind, respectful, popular and much-loved player,' the club's tribute read.

'He supported his team-mates and was a support to all of the kids that he played with.

'Ben loved the Hawks and played over 100 games for our club, he was a true Hawks man who was universally loved by the players, coaches and parents.

'Our club and community have lost a truly great young person who was developing into a fine young adult, and his loss will be felt keenly by our club for many years to come.'

Cummins stated that Cricket Victoria's priority right now was to provide support to members of Ben's family.

'I think the temptation in moments like this is to move to solution mode,' the Cricket Victoria chief said.

'At the moment, our focus is around providing support and counselling for those people who were, who experienced the trauma, there will be an appropriate time to review that and answer those questions. But right now, our focus is 100 per cent on the family, the members of Ferntree Gully Cricket Club, and at the appropriate time we'll review that.'

Cricket Australia is now likely to pay a tribute to Ben during Friday's T20 International between Australia and India at the MCG.

'There's some days where your heart is broken, and today is one of those,' Cricket Australia Board Chair Mike Baird said.

'The tragic circumstances Ben at Ferntree Gully, are circumstances that are going to be felt across the country. Cricket is a sport that brings people together, communities together. It's also one that feels very deeply, an incident such as we've seen.

'It's hard to put words on it. What we want to say is that we are doing everything we can to support the family, the club and all those impacted by this tragic event. Clearly, there are things that we have to learn from this, but right now, we are concerned about the family and trying to support them in every way.'

It's understood Ben was facing batting in the nets before a T20 match against Eildon Park when he was struck by the ball.

Several players rushed to Ben's aid as specialist paramedics worked frantically to stabilise the critically injured teen.

'Someone ran and grabbed a defib and an ambulance was there within maybe five or six minutes,' a witness told the Herald Sun.

'Everyone was just stunned, not really knowing what was happening and how serious it was, because at first it was like someone had been hit in the head.

'When they called for the defibrillator it was like, s**t, this is much more serious. There were players from both teams who knew the boy, so both teams were concerned.'

The match was part of a T20 tournament organised by the Ringwood and District Cricket Association and was later abandoned.

'We're committed to providing whatever support we need to for the clubs and the officials that were involved,' association president Michael Finn said.