Amid seemingly endless messages of support for Phillip Hughes, ex-West Indies allrounder Phil Simmons has offered one of inspiration.

Simmons hopes the omens are good for Hughes to be just as lucky with his recovery as he was when critically injured by a bouncer.

Simmons needed just eight days to get out of hospital after a suffering severe head injury requiring surgery after being struck by a bouncer in a 1988 tour match in England.

“He is the same age (25) as I was (in 1988) with the same name,” Simmons told BBC Sport.

“I think there’s an omen somewhere that he will pull through and I hope so.”

Simmons’ thoughts also turned to young NSW paceman Sean Abbott, saying personal experience had taught him that the “bowler is never to blame”.

As Hughes’ plight resounded around the globe, Simmons hoped history repeated.

In 1988, Simmons – who, unlike Hughes, was not wearing a helmet – was struck in the head by Gloucestershire’s David Lawrence, suffering a brain injury “as serious as you can get”.

His heart stopped and he later required emergency brain surgery to remove a blood clot.

But Simmons left hospital after eight days, began playing again in four months and resumed his Test career the next year.

He played the last of his 26 Tests in 1996 and finished his 143-game one-day international career in 1999.

“I was written off as never to play again and put in a long-term unit for head injuries, but I was out in eight days,” Simmons said.

He also expressed sympathy for the Blues bowler whose bouncer hit Hughes in the NSW-South Australia Sheffield Shield clash on Tuesday.

Simmons said he never blamed a shattered Lawrence for the 1988 incident – and believed no one should point the finger at Abbott.

“A bowler is never to blame. It’s just one of those unfortunate things that happens once in every long while,” he said.

They were views shared by sporting identities around the world who threw their support behind Hughes and Abbott on Wednesday.

The remaining Shield matches were cancelled as players from every Test cricket nation expressed their dismay on Wednesday.

The touring Indian squad were rocked by the news after Hughes initially emerged as a likely replacement for injured captain Michael Clarke for the first Test starting at the Gabba on December 4.

And both England and hosts Sri Lanka were clearly shaken as they prepared to launch a seven match one-day series in Colombo.

“For that tragedy to happen on a cricket field…I’ve never heard of it in my career, and for it to be all over the papers now, it’s just taken us all by shock,” England captain Alastair Cook said.

Shane Warne summed up the mood from Australian cricketing greats as he woke up to the news in London.

“It’s one of those terrible freak accidents,” he told Triple M.

Hughes officially trended worldwide, holding the top position in Australia, the UK, India and South Africa according to Trendsmap.

To help deal with overwhelming interest, Cricket Australia has set up a special page on its website for people to leave messages for Hughes and Abbott.