Australia captain Michael Clarke urged mourners to “dig in and get through to tea” as he choked back tears in an emotional tribute for Phillip Hughes at the cricketer’s funeral yesterday.
A near-constant presence at Hughes’ bedside during his two-day fight for life, Clarke sucked back deep breaths at Macksville High School hall during the tribute to his “little brother’s” spirit.
“Oh, he would definitely be calling me a sook [crybaby] right now, that’s for sure,” Clarke began, gasping for air in the stifling hot room packed with 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.”
Photo: AFP
“Is this what we call the spirit? If so, then his spirit is still with me. And I hope it never leaves,” he added.
Hughes died on Thursday last week at the age of 25, two days after being rushed to hospital for emergency surgery, having been struck by a rising delivery during a domestic match at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
Clarke joined fellow cricketers and Hughes’ father and brother among the pallbearers in delivering the coffin to the hearse before it set off in procession through the cricketer’s hometown of Macksville, New South Wales.
Photo: Reuters
The 33-year-old skipper spoke of his visit to the SCG wicket on the night of Hughes’ death.
“I knelt down and touched the grass, I swear he was with me,” said Clarke, who had helped usher Hughes into Australia’s state ranks then the national team.
“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,” Clarke said.
“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,” he added.
“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 forever be a sacred ground for me,” he said.
Clarke said Hughes’ 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,” the Australia captain said. “We must listen to it. We must cherish it. We must learn from it.”
“We must dig in,” Clarke said, faltering. “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.”
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite