Michael Clarke will be pall bearer and lead tributes to Phillip Hughes at funeral
Wednesday 3 December 2014 06:40, UK
Australia captain Michael Clarke will act as a pall bearer at Phillip Hughes' funeral in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
Hughes will be buried in Macksville in New South Wales on Wednesday, six days after he died from a catastrophic injury caused by a ball striking him in the back of the head during a Sheffield Shield match.
The funeral, which is expeced to last an hour and will begin with the opening music 'Forever Young' and conclude with 'Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me', will be broadcast on Australian television and relayed on big screens in the Macksville High School grounds to up to 4,000 residents of the small coastal town.
Leading figures from the world of cricket - including Sir Richard Hadlee and Brian Lara - will attend the service alongside many current and former Australian players.
Clarke will also deliver a tribute to his friend before all cricketers present will be invited to form a guard of honour.
England captain Alastair Cook will not be there because he is with his side in Sri Lanka, where England will play the third ODI in the series on Wednesday, but bowler Steven Finn, who played with Hughes at Middlesex and against him in the international arena, said the team's thoughts will be with Hughes and his family.
"I'd imagine anyone who's playing cricket anywhere in the world at the moment who came across Hughesy in any way shape or form is still trying to come to terms with it," he said.
"It still feels very surreal. The funeral is tomorrow and obviously everyone will step aside and think and pay their respects in their own way.
"I know everyone in the England dressing room will do that and it's important that we do that because we've lost a great man.
“It is very, very sad - and I don't think there is a cricketer in the world who hasn't shed a tear for Phillip over the last week.
"I only played with him for six weeks to two months at Middlesex, and played against him a fair amount for Australia, but he was an amazing guy.
"He is going to be sorely missed by lots of people, because he touched so many, and I know he did (so too) with everyone at Middlesex.
"Everyone is really sad about it. Everyone has been devastated by it.”
