Former Australian Test player and Victorian state cricket coach David Hookes died in hospital on January 19, 2004 after being assaulted outside at a Melbourne pub late in the night of January 18, 2004.
Hookes was revived by ambulance paramedics after the assault. He had serious head injuries and never regained consciousness.
The 48-year-old Hookes played 23 Tests from 1976-77 to 1985-86, scoring one century. As a fresh-faced 21-year-old, he famously struck five consecutive fours off Tony Greig's bowling in his debut match, the 1977 Centenary Test in Melbourne. He played 39 ODIs. He retired in 1992.
The charismatic Hookes became a prominent media commentator and was coaching the Victoria state team until his death.
Allan Border described his friend as a "larger than life character." "We've been very close mates going back to schoolboy cricket days."
Paying his respects Ian Chappell said Hookes was not an aggressive man. "He was always prepared to speak his opinion and we might have got an animated discussion out of him but certainly not fighting."
Expressing his shock tennis star Lleyton Hewitt said, the death of Australian cricket identity David Hookes highlighted the dangers of high-profile people in public.
As a coach Hookes helped make the careers of three pupils, one of them being Shane Warne. Warne's amazing Test comeback is an achievement shared as much by Hookes as Warne.
Speaking on the loss, Warne said, "losing Hookes was a very big thing for me. I became very close to him over the last four or five years."
The other Aussie eternally grateful to Hookes is South Australia captain Darren Lehmann who grew up idolising the state's then skipper Hookes.