Next week’s first Test between Australia and India has been postponed to allow players time to mourn the shock death of Phillip Hughes.

Cricket Australia confirmed on Saturday afternoon that the game will not start in Brisbane on Thursday as scheduled.

Hughes’ funeral will take place at 2pm on Wednesday in the 25-year-old’s hometown of Macksville in northern NSW.

Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland said it was “out of the question” for players to be taking the field at the Gabba a day after the service at Macksville High School.

“These are extraordinary circumstances and we simply couldn’t or wouldn’t expect our players to be emotionally ready to start a Test match the day after farewelling one of their teammates,” Sutherland said in a statement.

“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.”

It hasn’t been determined whether the game will go ahead in Brisbane next week, with CA noting in a statement that “details around the Test match are still to be determined”.