Phillip Hughes’s family has been left honoured at the outpouring of support from the cricket community in the six weeks since the former Test cricketer’s death, says Australian skipper Michael Clarke.
A bronze plaque commemorating Hughes’s career was unveiled at the SCG on Monday with the Hughes family present at the ground for the first day of the fourth Test against India on Tuesday.
Clarke missed the final Test with a hamstring injury, but spoke about the Hughes family in his role as a commentator with Channel Nine.
“They’ll be here throughout the Test match,” said Clarke, who was a good friend of Hughes.
“The support has been outstanding and I know Phillip’s family is proud of how many people have got in contact with them to show that support.”
Another close friend of Hughes, David Warner was one of four members of the current Australian side, along with Brad Haddin, Shane Watson and Nathan Lyon, who were on the SCG when Hughes was struck by a bouncer in the Sheffield Shield match between NSW and South Australia in November.
Warner brought up an emotional hundred midway through the second session and looked to the sky in a tribute to Hughes, before being dismissed for 101.
When he moved onto 63 during the second session, Warner bent over and kissed the wicket, beside the Test wicket at the Randwick end where Hughes was felled.
Hughes was 63 not out when he was hit by the bouncer.
He died two days later in hospital.
A picture of Hughes was shown on the SCG’s television screen when the India and Australia sides made their way onto the ground before the start of the day’s play for the national anthems.
In a pre-match segment on Nine, Clarke paid tribute to ‘Hughdog’ and spoke of the “brightly coloured memories” he had of Hughes, who will be “a teammate for life”.
“This was his ground, the Sydney Cricket Ground,” Clarke said.
“This is where he played his last game, this is where his spirit will live forever.
“A good guy who fought for everything he ever got and then fought some more, who never gave up,” Clarke said.
“In death he brought the sporting world together, the cricket community, the game might be bigger than any individual but it stopped for Phil Hughes, it stopped in its tracks, didn’t it?
“I will never play a Test match again without the number 408 on my shirt, Hughdog’s Test number.
“The one that stopped the cricket world and changed it for the better and forever.”
Hughes made his first class debut at the SCG for NSW in 2007 and played his first Test on home soil at the venue in 2010. He played his final Test at the ground in 2013.
