Michael Clarke made no mention of the first Test in his statement to the press on Saturday morning.

There was no expectation he would.

This was Australia’s captain expressing the grief of his teammates, all of whom were friends with Phillip Hughes.

One look at Clarke’s tear-stained, mournful face was enough to confirm the first Test at the Gabba is in extreme doubt.

“Apart from when he was home on the farm with his beloved cattle, Hughesy was at his happiest playing cricket for his country with his mates,” Clarke said.

“Things were always put in perspective when Hughesy said ‘where else would you rather be boys, but playing cricket for your country?’.

“We’re going to miss that cheeky grin and that twinkle in his eye.

“The world lost one of its great blokes this week and we are all poorer for it.”

Cricket Australia has set no deadline for a decision on whether the match will start on Thursday as planned.

Hughes’ funeral is set to be held in his home town of Macksville in NSW mid-week, and the timing of that will also play into the decision on whether the Test goes ahead.

Australia’s Test squad had assembled in Sydney following Tuesday’s freak accident at the SCG, where Hughes was felled by a bouncer.

They have now started returning to respective homes, to be with family and grieve in a more private manner.

CA will leave it up to Clarke and his colleagues as to whether the first Test should begin as scheduled.

Aside from abandonment, one other option would be for day one to start later in the week.

Even if the team decides playing the first Test has merit, finding 11 men mentally ready to take the field in Brisbane will be difficult.

Test players David Warner, Shane Watson, Brad Haddin and Nathan Lyon were fielding at the SCG when Hughes was struck.

How they start thinking about playing the sport again is anyone’s guess.

“It’s been such a tragic week for the Hughes family and the cricket community and I can’t imagine how anybody can be expected to play Test cricket on Thursday,” Ponting wrote in a News Corp Australia column.

“In fact, I don’t think it would be right.

“Even if the boys think they can play, it would be a miracle if they find the right frame of mind needed for five days of cricket.”

Clarke was set to be scratched from the Test squad earlier this week because of his hamstring injury.

But his leadership during this traumatic time has been incredible and the 33-year-old will desperately want to be on the field to guide teammates through the toughest five days of Test cricket.

India are working on the assumption the game will continue as planned.

The tourists are slated to fly to Brisbane on Monday and hit the Gabba nets on Tuesday.

On Saturday they trained at Adelaide Oval, Ishant Sharma and Varun Aaron sending down bouncers in a lively centre-wicket session.

The scoreboard in the background carried the words ‘Vale Phillip Hughes 1988-2014’, while stand-in skipper Virat Kohli added his bat to the tribute building outside the ground.