MACKSVILLE: Cricket luminaries and fans Wednesday gathered for the emotional funeral of Australian batsman Phillip Hughes, whose death from a freak on-field injury brought his grieving hometown to a standstill.
Hughes, 25, and on the cusp of a recall to the Test team, died from bleeding on the brain last Thursday after being hit on the base of the skull by a rising ball at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
His tragic death stunned Australia, where cricket is considered the national game, and prompted the rescheduling of the upcoming India Test series, while fans around the world placed cricket bats outside their front doors as a mark of respect.
In Hughes' small hometown of Macksville, on Australia's east coast, tributes to the opener who scored three centuries in 26 Tests hung in shop windows, while ribbons in the green and gold colours of the Australian Test team adorned telephone poles.
"It's so huge. It's so massive," said local resident Bethany Simmons of the response to Hughes' death as she looked at the tributes with her children.
"It's so shocking, you never expect this to happen in cricket. Everyone knows the risks of rugby... but this was just so shocking. And he had so much potential."
Macksville itself, with a population of just 2,500, has been bracing a funeral to be attended by luminaries such as Shane Warne, Richard Hadlee, and Hughes' first Test skipper Ricky Ponting.
Brian Lara, who had been in Australia, is representing the West Indies Cricket Board which noted that "the entire cricket world is in shock and a state of grief".
Prime Minister Tony Abbott also planned to attend.
Current Australian captain Michael Clarke, a close friend of Hughes, will be among the pallbearers and deliver a tribute during the service which starts at 2:00pm (0300 GMT) and will be televised live.
It will open with the song 'Forever Young', while Hughes' cousin Nino Ramunno, brother Jason and sister Megan will deliver the eulogy before Elton John's 'Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me' closes proceedings.
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