Agencies
Macksville, December 3
The funeral for cricketer Phillip Hughes turned into a celebration of his life on Wednesday despite the grief and sorrow still evident from his death. Australia captain Michael Clarke and the rest of the test squad were joined by former and current players from around the world as well as friends and relatives from Hughes' hometown of Macksville on the northern coast of New South Wales.
Clarke was a pallbearer and spoke at the funeral service held at the Macksville Recreation Centre and which opened to the song "Forever Young" by Youth Group.
The service closed with Elton John's "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me," the same song the famous entertainer and avid cricket fan performed at a concert last weekend in Germany in tribute to Hughes.
Hughes died last Thursday, aged 25, after being hit near the ear by a ball during a match between South Australia and his former state side New South Wales at the Sydney Cricket Ground. His 26th birthday would have been Sunday.
At the front of the hall, near the altar for the Roman Catholic service, was Hughes' oak brown casket. Flowers and cricket bats, one with his test cap on the handle, were nearby.
Leading the service, which included a video tribute, Father Michael Alcock remembered the batsman as a "shining light."
"In his short time he walked as a child of the light, not in an ostentatious way but in a natural, unassuming and passionate way," the priest said.
Clarke, who has described Hughes as the brother he never had, broke down frequently last weekend at the SCG when he first commented on his close friend's death.
On Wednesday, he took several deep breaths before he began his remarks at the funeral, saying Hughes would "definitely call me a sook right now."
"I don't know about you, but I keep looking for him," Clarke said. "I want to see his face pop up around the corner. I can see how he has touched so many people around the world... so rest in peace my little brother, see you out in the middle."
After Clarke and the other pallbearers placed Hughes' casket in the hearse for a procession through the town, he put his hands on his hips, later wiping tears from his eyes.
The family had asked for Hughes' hearse to go through the town's streets to give locals a chance to take part in the service.
The funeral was telecast live around Australia and on video screens at the Adelaide Oval, where the rescheduled first test with India will start next Tuesday, and the SCG, where a row of 63 bats were propped up against pickets, each with an inscription of a special moment of Hughes' career.
Michael Clarke's emotional tribute to Phil Hughes
Australia captain Michael Clarke urged mourners to "dig in and get through to tea" as he choked back tears in an emotional eulogy delivered to Phillip Hughes at the cricketer's funeral in Macksville, New South Wales, on Wednesday.
The 33-year-old Clarke, a near-constant presence by his team mate's bedside during his two-day fight for life at a Sydney hospital, choked back tears and paused to suck back deep breaths at the rural town's high school hall as he paid tribute to his "brother's" spirit.
"Oh, he would definitely be calling me a sook right now, that's for sure," Clarke began, gasping for air in the stifling room packed with 1,000 people.
"I don't know about you, but I keep looking for him. I know it is crazy but I expect any minute to take a call from him or to see his face pop around the corner. Is this what we call the spirit? If so, then his spirit is still with me. And I hope it never leaves."
Hughes died last Thursday at the age of 25, two days after being rushed to hospital for emergency surgery, having been struck by a rising delivery during a domestic match at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
Clarke, who helped usher Hughes into Australia's state ranks then the national team, said he visited the SCG wicket where Hughes was felled after his death.
"I stood there at the wicket, I knelt down and touched the grass, I swear he was with me," he said.
"Picking me up off my feet to check if I was okay. Telling me we just needed to dig in and get through to tea. Telling me off for that loose shot I played. Chatting about what movie we might watch that night. And then passing on a useless fact about cows.”
"And I could see him swagger back to the other end, grin at the bowler, and call me through for a run with such a booming voice, a bloke in the car park would hear it. Is this what indigenous Australians believe about a person's spirit being connected with the land upon which they walk? If so, I know they are right about the SCG. His spirit has touched it and it will be forever be a sacred ground for me."
Clarke said Hughes's death would strengthen the bonds of cricket around the world.
"Phillip's spirit, which is now part of our game forever, will act as a custodian of the sport we all love. We must listen to it. We must cherish it. We must learn from it," he added.
"We must dig in," Clarke faltered, crying. We must dig in and get through to tea. And we must play on. So rest in peace, my little brother. I will see you out in the middle."
As the whole of Australia is in mourning for the tragic loss of Phillip Hughes, their hearts are also going out to young bowler Sean Abbott who attended Wednesday's funeral for the much-loved cricketer.
Possibly the biggest day of the young cricketer's life, the 22-year-old was surrounded by his cricketing family at the Macksville Recreational Centre in Macksville in northern New South Wales on Wednesday.
Wearing a navy blue suit and dark sunglasses, his girlfriend, Brier Neil, did not leave her grief-stricken partner's side throughout the heart-wrenching service.
Abbott was the unfortunate player who delivered the bouncer that struck Hughes in the neck during the Sheffield Shield clash at the Sydney Cricket Ground last Tuesday.
The 22-year-old has received overwhelming support from the entire cricket community including Hughes' own family who told Daily Mail Australia the day before the funeral on Tuesday that they were looking forward to seeing Abbott and embracing him with open arms.
A family member expressed the empathy they felt Abbott's unbearable situation
'We can't wait to see Sean Abbott tomorrow and give him a big kiss and hug,' the family member told Daily Mail Australia at the time.
'We just want to tell him it was freak accident and he cannot think he had anything to do with it.
'No one is blaming him. We want to hug him and tell him that everything is okay.'
The courageous young man returned to training on Tuesday with his New South Wales Blues team mates who rallied around the player at a training session at the SCG.
'It's the whole squad that really needs everyone's support,' a spokeswoman for Cricket NSW told Daily Mail Australia.
'We want to keep supporting them as a group there were a lot of Phillip's friends in the team,' she said.
