England captain Alastair Cook has admitted that the whole team have been "in a bit of shock" since hearing about Australia batsman Phil Hughes's critical condition.

The 25-year-old was struck on the head by a short-pitched ball while batting for South Australia against New South Wales at the Sydney Cricket Ground yesterday.

Hughes was given immediate medical attention at the ground, before being taken to hospital where he was placed in an induced coma following surgery.

Speaking ahead of his side's ODI series against Sri Lanka, Cook told reporters: "The whole team have been in a bit of shock. All our thoughts and prayers are with Phillip.

"It's a really saddening incident. Fingers crossed, he can show the same fight he's shown throughout his whole career and he can pull through. The whole dressing room is just massively concerned for Phillip.

"As for player safety [and equipment], at the moment it's kind of irrelevant. It's all about him, and his family and friends. We send him our best from here. This is just something very unexpected. For that tragedy to happen on a cricket field, I'd never heard of anything [like it]."

Cricket Australia confirmed earlier today that the current round of Sheffield Shield matches have been abandoned.