Among the touching eulogies to Phil Hughes on Wednesday during his funeral service at the Macksville High School was his close friend, New South Wales and Australia team-mate and captain Michael Clarke’s personal teary-eyed tribute.
Addressing the sizeable gathering at the indoor memorial, consisting of Hughes’s family, relatives, close friends, Prime Minister Tony Abbott, the Australian team, many former cricketers and Cricket Australia officials, Clarke held back tears as he urged mourners to “dig in and get through to tea” and paid tribute to his “brother’s” spirit.
“Oh, he would definitely be calling me a sook right now, that’s for sure,” Clarke began, gasping for air in front of about 1,000 people. “I don’t know about you, but I keep looking for him. I know it is crazy but I expect any minute to take a call from him or to see his face pop around the corner. Is this what we call the spirit? If so, then his spirit is still with me. And I hope it never leaves.”
Clarke, 33, was a near-constant presence by Hughes’ bedside at the St Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney form the time he was rushed there from the Sydney Cricket Ground on November 25 until he died two days later. He today revealed how after his good friend’s passing, he went to the SCG that fateful night and spent time out on the pitch in remembrance of the times shared with Hughes.
“I stood there at the wicket, I knelt down and touched the grass, I swear he was with me,” he said.”Picking me up off my feet to check if I was okay. Telling me we just needed to dig in and get through to tea. Telling me off for that loose shot I played. Chatting about what movie we might watch that night. And then passing on a useless fact about cows. And I could see him swagger back to the other end, grin at the bowler, and call me through for a run with such a booming voice, a bloke in the car park would hear it.
“Is this what indigenous Australians believe about a person’s spirit being connected with the land upon which they walk? If so, I know they are right about the SCG. His spirit has touched it and it will be forever be a sacred ground for me.”
Clarke said Hughes’s death would strengthen the bonds of cricket around the world. “Phillip’s spirit, which is now part of our game forever, will act as a custodian of the sport we all love. We must listen to it. We must cherish it. We must learn from it,” he added, crying. “We must dig in. We must dig in and get through to tea. And we must play on. So rest in peace, my little brother. I will see you out in the middle.”
