Hughes funeral set, India test postponed
Print Edition
AUSTRALIAN cricketer Phillip Hughes will be buried in his home town on Wednesday, Cricket Australia said yesterday, forcing the indefinite postponement of the test match against India which was scheduled to begin the following day.
Hughes, 25, died on Thursday as the result of a catastrophic injury he sustained when struck on the head by a ball during a domestic match, triggering a wave of mourning in Australia and around the world.
Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland said it would have been unreasonable to expect the players to get the four-test series under way less than 24 hours after Hughes was laid to rest in Macksville, New South Wales.
“Their welfare is our absolute priority. They are grieving and to expect that they could play a high-pressured, five-day test match the following day is out of the question,” he said in a statement.
“We appreciate the incredible understanding and support of the Board of Control for Cricket in India.”
Ticket sales for the match at the Gabba in Brisbane had been suspended and a new date would be set after consultation with the BCCI, broadcasters and stadium officials, Sutherland added.
Australia captain Michael Clarke earlier gave a graphic illustration of the raw emotions of the players when he broke down repeatedly while paying tribute to his friend.
Battling to hold back tears, he read out a statement on behalf of the players at the Sydney Cricket Ground, where Hughes suffered his fatal injury on Tuesday.
“Words cannot express the loss we feel as a team right now,” Clarke said.
“We are going to miss that cheeky grin and that twinkle in his eye. He epitomized what the baggy green was about and what it means to us all.
“The world lost one of its great blokes this week and we are all poorer for it.”
Clarke said the players had requested that Cricket Australia retire Hughes’s one-day international number, 64.
“Our dressing room will never be the same. We loved him and always will. Rest in peace bruzzy,” Clarke concluded.
The fate of the first test against India had been in the balance even before Hughes died of his horrific injury as many of the Australia team were among his closest friends.
TV rights make an incoming tour by the India test team by far the most lucrative in the world game so cancellation of the Brisbane match is unlikely.
There is precious little room for maneuver, however, with the second test scheduled to take place in Adelaide from December 12-16 with the third starting on Boxing Day (December 26) in Melbourne and the fourth in Sydney (January 3-7).
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