Phillip Hughes: Family, friends and cricketers farewell Hughes at funeral - as it happened

From Guardian journalist, Ben Doherty, in Macksville:

Almost everybody from the service has joined the march behind Hughes’s cortege. It now stretches hundreds of metres down the streets of Macksville, where Hughes grew up. The mourners walk in the heat slowly, in silence.

The Phillip Hughes funeral procession is making its way down the main street of Macksville with thousands following the hearse. Hughes will be privately cremated.

After the prayer of commendation, the casket is carried out to “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me” by Elton John.

The pallbearers are his father Gregory Hughes, his brother Jason Hughes, Australian cricket test captain Michael Clarke, family friends Corey Ireland, Mitchell Lonergan, Matthew Day, Arron Finch and Tom Cooper.

The chief executive of Cricket Australia, James Sutherland, is now addressing the funeral.

Mere words are woefully inadequate at times like this.

He says the bonds of mateship have been on display since Hughes fell at the wicket.

Cricket’s heart has been pierced by pain but will never stop beating. It will find its rhythm next week in Adelaide and beyond and wherever cricketers gather, they will always hold Phillip Hughes and his family close to that generous beating heart. Phillip Hughes, forever, unconquered on 63.

Holy water and incense is sprinkled over Phillip Hughes’ casket. The final commendation and farewell is being said by Father Alcock.

Turn also to us who have suffered this loss, strengthen the bonds of this family and this community, confirm us in faith, in hope and in love. So that we may bare your peace to one another and one day stand together with all the saints who praise you for your saving help.

Michael Clarke reflects on Indigenous beliefs that people are connected to the land they have walked on, saying he feels the spirit of Phillip Hughes at the SCG.

He speaks on the outpouring of grief from around the world, the bats that were put out in all corners of the globe.

This is what makes our game the greatest game in 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, 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’ll see you out in the middle.

Family friend Corey Ireland has paid tribute to “Hughesy talking about his passion for cattle.

I learnt that he was handy on the cricket pitch but our conversations were more about cattle, genetics, bulls. The thing that we loved about Hughesy was that he instantly fitted in to our family. He soon became an important member of our family. He was always playing pranks with the boys who were 10 and 8 and leading them astray, which they loved. From our boys having cut off Cricket Australia track pants which Hughesy had supplied and altered himself, to taking the boys around the Sydney Show. They came back with a total of 26 show bags. And when asked to explain, Phillip simply said, “I promised they could have whatever show bags they wanted.”

Nino Ramunno says Phillip was always a country boy at heart but loved the finer things that the city could offer him. He toured states and internationally but always called Macksville home.

When he got knocked down he would simply dust himself off, set goals to get better. I’d never ever once heard him complain about being drop from the Australian team. His mental strength was beyond his years. And when he faced a situation he would treat it as another challenge that he would overcome and believe that he would come back bigger and stronger and preferring to pile on runs.

Nino finishes with a quote sent to him from a family friend: “He who lives in the heart of so many never dies.”

I’ll miss you greatly, Cuz, but I’ll never forget you and the great times we shared.

Nino Ramunno says with the constant training and travelling to cricket carnivals he formed a strong bond with his father but he was always a “mummy’s boy”.

He would call his mum every day without fail, referring to her as Mummy, Vinnie and Mum. When Phillip used the greeting Mum, aunty Virginia knew Phillip needed to talk. Phillip idolised his mother and would often seek her guidance as advice as part of those daily calls.

Phillip Hughes’ cousin Nino Ramunno says Phillip was pushed into cricket when his older brother, Jason, needed him to fill in for a game. At first he said no but after being threatened with the moniker “wuss” he relented. He scored 25 as a tailender.

From that moment he fell in love with the game. That was the start of hundreds, if not thousands of games of backyard cricket held in various backyards of East Street, Macksville.

Nino says Hughes representative career began at nine years old when he played in the Nambucca-Bellingen under-12s team. He scored 64.

Father Jones delivers the homily. A simple and moving one that acknowledges those asking “why Phillip?”

We have our Easter candle lit for Phillip today. It reminds us that this young man was a shining light to those who were privileged to havek nown him and to the many more who knew him. In his short time he walked as a child of the light, not in an ostentatious way but in his natural, unassuming and passionate way. I know we all have so many questions this afternoon. Why Phillip? Why taken so young? How could such a thing happen to such a fine young man?And I have no answer to those questions. But I do know theworld is a better place for having experienced the vitality, friendship, love,passion and energy of Phillip Joel Hughes. And I also know that we come together as one this afternoon asking God to take Phillip safely home in the hope that one day we shall all join him and all our departed loved ones and friends in the embrace of our loving God.

It is followed by Prayers of the Faithful and the Lord’s Prayer.

Psalm 23 is being sung: The Lord is my Shepherd.

It is followed by a reading from the Holy Gospel according to John. John 14:1-6:

Do not you let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God still and trust in me.There are many rooms in my father’s house. If there were not I should have told you. I am now going to prepare a place for you and after I have gone and prepared you a place I shall return to take you with me so that where I am you maybe too. You know the way to the place where I am going.”

Thomas said, “Lord, we do not know where you are going so how can we know the way?”

Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life.”

The parents and siblings of Phillip Hughes have arrived at his funeral. Just before it starts we will do a quick recap of Hughes career:

He played 26 Test matches. He scored 1535 runs at an average of 32.65, with a highest score of 160.
After an extraordinary start to his career, he was dropped three times by Australian selectors, but each time had fought his way back. He was on the verge of selection again when he was felled last week.
For a man only 25 years old, he owned some remarkable cricketing records, including:

- the youngest man to score a century in a Sheffield Shield final, aged 19 in 2008).

- the youngest man to score two centuries in a single Test (aged just 20, in only his second Test)

- the only Australian ever to score a century on one-day international debut.

Sean Abbott, the cricketer who bowled the bouncer which struck Phillip Hughes has arrived at the funeral. It would be an especially hard day for him, on what is already a difficult day. Abbott has received counselling and was comforted at the hospital Hughes died in by his sister, Megan.

We have images of Michael Clarke arriving at the funeral of Phillip Hughes. The Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, is also in Macksville for the service.

As well as the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG), the Western Australia Cricket Association (Waca) ground is hosting mourners today along with Brisbane’s cricket ground, known as the Gabba.

Father Michael Alcock and Father Peter Jones will be saying the service at Phillip Hughes’ funeral. The eulogy will be given by Nino Ramunno, Jason Hughes and Megan Hughes with tributes from Corey Ireland and Michael Clarke.

More former Australian cricket players have arrived, including Damien Martyn, Brett Lee, Mark Waugh, Craig McDermott, Mark Taylor, Aaron Finch, Adam Gilchrist, Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer.

The feed from the funeral of Phillip Hughes has now been embedded at the top of this page. It is due to start at 2pm.

Back to Macksville, Ben Doherty reports the mourners continue to trickle in:

Players have begun to arrive at the funeral. Current captain Michael Clarke has arrived, as has former skipper Ricky Ponting. Ponting was captain when Hughes made his debut in South Africa in 2009. Hughes was dismissed for a duck in his first innings, but made two centuries in the second Test to announce his arrival in international cricket.

Other cricketers arriving include Dave Warner, who was fielding in close for NSW when Hughes was struck. He appears visibly upset. Also in attendance: Peter Siddle, Chris Rogers, Mitchell Starc, George Bailey, Steve Smith.

Three of Phil’s treasured cricketing caps are on display at the front of the hall: his beloved Baggy Green, as well as the blue cap of NSW and the red of South Australia.

The funeral is being broadcast at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) where Phillip Hughes was hit by the fatal bouncer. Lisa Visentin from the Sydney Morning Herald is at the ground.

The mourners are not just in Australia today, tributes have been flowing internationally since Phillip Hughes died last week.

The Vatican cricket team attended a memorial mass on Tuesday evening in Rome for him, Reuters reports.

According to the report the Australian ambassador to the Holy See organised the mass in the Chapel of the Venerable English College as a mark of respect for Hughes and his family.

It was conducted by Father Anthony Currer, an English priest and captain of the Vatican XI.

When this awful tragedy with Philip Hughes happened, we decided that it was right to make our mass one in which we remembered him and his family and in these hours when they are preparing to celebrate his life in a service in Macksville, we would be here praying and supporting them and being alongside them. Because this tragedy has touched our lives too.”

From Ben Doherty in Macksville: the mourners come.

In the blazing summer sun, the people of Macksville have begun arriving at Phillip Hughes’s memorial service, some in suits despite the heat, some in shirts bearing Hughes’s name and his Test number.

Guardian Australia’s Brigid Delaney has written a beautiful piece about why the death of Phillip Hughes has caused such a collective stunned grief. You can read it here.

Maybe it’s because Hughes’ death feels a bit like an attack on a part of old Australia’s DNA: the idea of young men, and country towns, and cricket pitches, long sleepy summers watching the Test, where the highest praise was to be described as “humble” or a “good bloke”, of being 25 and having it all in front of you.

In 1937 poet Edna St Vincent Millay wrote that “childhood is the kingdom where nobody dies”. Until last week, there was a sense that cricket was that kingdom too.

Phillip Hughes’ casket has arrived at Macksville High School ahead of his funeral.

My colleague Ben Doherty is in Macksville for the funeral and reports the vast majority of seats at the funeral have been reserved for locals:

The indoor stadium at Macksville High has been simply adorned for today’s service, two stands of flowers either side of a central altar, flanked by two large TV screens which, ahead of the service, show the now-iconic image of Hughes, in baggy green looking over his left shoulder and smiling, late-afternoon sun across this face.

The list of dignitaries includes state and federal politicians from across the country, three former Australian cricket captains (as well as current skipper Clarke), cricketing teammates, opponents and friends from across the world. But organisers have been careful to make sure it remains a local service, for those who knew Phillip best. Of the 5000 people expected to fill the hall at Macksville High today, 4000 places - for almost everybody who lives in the town - have been reserved for Macksville residents.

The streets of Phillip Hughes’ hometown, Macksville, are strewn with tributes to the cricketer who died days before his 26th birthday last week when he was hit in the head by a bouncer while playing in the Sheffield Shield.

Australian cricket captain Michael Clarke is one of many cricketers who have arrived in Macksville for the funeral which is being broadcast live on various television channels and website. The funeral is due to start at 2pm and we will have a livestream at the top of this rolling report. In the meantime, feel free to leave your tributes in the comments.