Just after 4:00pm (ACDT) at Adelaide Oval on Friday, the minds of Australian cricketers will stray from the challenge of beating opponents New Zealand in the inaugural day-night Test.
At 4:08pm, during the first break in the Adelaide Test, a tribute to Phillip Hughes will be played on the big screen.
It will be a year since Hughes, the 408th Australian to wear the Baggy Green, died after a freak accident at the SCG.
Hughes, batting for South Australia in a Sheffield Shield match, was struck in the neck by a ball bowled by New South Wales quick Sean Abbott.
The injury caused a haemorrhage to the brain, a rare sequence of events, and Hughes died two days later, just days short of his 26th birthday sending the cricketing world into shock.
The popular cricketer, who played 26 Tests for Australia, will be remembered by his peers and fans alike on Friday at the Adelaide Test and at three Shield matches across the country.
All players involved in all four matches will wear black armbands in a mark of respect to Hughes.
Australian spin bowler and Test squad member Steve O’Keefe said for him and most players the game changed forever from that day at the SCG a year ago.
O’Keefe was fielding for NSW in the match that Hughes suffered the accident.
“I just hope in my lifetime that I never have to see anything like that again,” O’Keefe said in Adelaide.
“And we can remember Phil Hughes for what he was — which was a great bloke and an even better player.”
The death of Hughes affected all players individually and recently retired Test fast bowler Mitchell Johnson said it made him question the way he played the game.
Australian Test vice-captain David Warner, who was also playing in the SCG match last year, said there was a lot of emotion to deal with last year and it has always been in the back of their minds.
“At the end of the day we’ve got to come out here and play the game that we love, and it’s about crossing that line, putting our cricket caps on and thinking about the job ahead,” Warner said.
“We always know that our mate is looking down on us and we’ll always do our best when we walk on the field, as we have done over the past 12 months.”
A Cricket Australia independent review into the incident has concluded and the findings of the inquiry will be handed down soon, but not before the anniversary of Hughes’s death.
A tough ask for players: Clarke
Former Australia captain Michael Clarke, a close friend of Hughes, said he thinks about his former Australian and NSW team-mate every day.
Clarke, who delivered a moving eulogy at Hughes’s funeral, will spend the day with his wife and their newborn daughter in hospital.
“It’s going to be a really tough day and I think the guys playing are going to do it tough,” he said.
“I think it is really important that we celebrate his life and continue to support the Hughes family and show our respect there.”
NSW batsman Ed Cowan says it has been a tough year for all cricketers.
“It doesn’t really matter who you are, where you are when it happened, it’s been a hard year,” Cowan said
Cowan says the NSW team will continue to rally around Abbott, who has not spoken publicly about the accident.
“He’s a great young man and we all love him to bits. If he needs our support we will be there for him,” he said.
Courtesy : ABC/AAP