Sports stars and fans
A lone cricket bat rested against the coffin at a packed service in his former high school hall in Macksville on the New South Wales coast in front of his heartbroken parents, family and friends and a shattered Australian Test team. His family and loved ones at the age of just 25, left a mark on our game that needs no embellishment," tearful captain Michael Clarke told the funeral. "I don't know about you but I keep looking for him."
Who had played 26 Tests and was on the cusp of a recall, died from bleeding on the brain last Thursday after being hit on the base of the skull by a rising ball at the Sydney Cricket Ground during a domestic match. Where cricket is considered the national game, and prompted a rescheduling of the upcoming India Test series, while fans around the world placed bats outside their front doors as a mark of respect. Those same blades of grass beneath my feet where he and I and so many of his mates here today have built partnerships, taken chances and lived out the dreams we painted in our heads as boys.
The tributes offered from sports stars and fans across the globe had sustained him, from a little girl holding a candle in tribute, to masters of the game such as Sachin Tendulkar expressing sorrow. This is what makes our game the greatest game in the world. We must dig in and get through to tea. And we must play on.
Australia's east coast, tributes to the opening batsman hung in shop windows, while ribbons in the green and gold colours of the Australian Test team adorned telephone poles. Welcome greats such as Shane Warne, Brian Lara, Glenn McGrath, Virat Kohli and Hughes' first Test skipper Ricky Ponting. The young man who bowled the fast ball which struck Hughes, also attended supported by his parents, as did Prime Minister Tony Abbott.
Loss the spirit of cricket
Hughes' parents Greg and Virginia and siblings invited the whole town to the service at Macksville High School, where about 1,000 crammed into the hall and hundreds more watched on screens in overflow areas.
The funeral was a huge event in Macksville, with shops closing and residents in mourning. Just outside town, one business created a huge tribute using three cherry pickers as cricket stumps and putting Hughes' Test number 408 across them. St Patrick's, dozens of bats lined the front fence, many bearing messages remembering the hugely popular opener who was not out on 63 when he was struck. more >>
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