Phillip Hughes’ death has touched a nerve like few others in Australia.

A well-known young cricketer being so cruelly cut down in his prime playing sport was always going to be big news.

But the wave of grief that has swept the nation has gone so much deeper than that.

That is partly due to his likability and that he represents in many ways what the nation no longer is.

And the fact he died playing the national game.

“The wave of emotion that has washed over our country over the past week tells us so much about the affections millions have for Phillip and the privileged place that cricket has at the heart of this nation,” Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland said at his funeral.

“Quite simply the boy from this proud community of Macksville personified the spirit of Australian cricket.

“Ever since Bradman the image of the innocent country boy playing in the backyard long dreaming of wearing the baggy green cap has become entrenched in our psyche.

“It is our foundation myth as a cricketing nation and Phillip lived that dream.”

He was a throw back to the innocent days of Bradman, McCabe and Walters, when a boy from the bush could carve up bowlers in the big smoke.

The story of the barrel-chested, hairy-armed youngster was a nostalgia trip, a reminder of times when Australia was heavily populated outside its major cities.

He was a humble, simple kid with an agricultural technique that initially scythed his way through a highly-rated South African attack.

The comparisons with Bradman came thick and fast and so did the fall that accompanies such comments.

But it was his failure to complain even when he was unfairly treated by selectors that won over the harshest critics.

“When he got knocked down he would dust himself off and set goals to get better he never once complained about being dropped for Australia,” cousin Nino Ramunno said at Hughes’ funeral on Wednesday.

He was the personification of traits that Australians hold so dear. He was talented, humble, decent and so damn resilient. In an age of ego-driven professional sports stars, he wasn’t.