Australia bids farewell to Hughes in hometown funeral

The casket containing Australian cricketer Phillip Hughes is carried past mourners at the end of his funeral service in the town of Macksville, located north of Sydney, December 3, 2014. [Photo/Agencies]

BAT TRIBUTES

Hughes was batting for a recall to the Australia side for the opening match in the test series against India -- since rescheduled -- when he suffered the injury that killed him.

The number 63, the runs Hughes had accumulated when he was struck by the ball, has become inextricably linked with the tragedy, as has 408, a reference to him becoming the 408th man to play test cricket for Australia in 2009.

Most of all though, it is the viral campaign to get people to place cricket bats in tribute outside homes, workplaces and at sports grounds that has become the most common manifestation of the outpouring of grief around the world.

That was reflected by Hughes's own bat, stood up against the coffin throughout the service, which concluded with "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me", the song Elton John dedicated to Hughes when he played it in a concert in Munich last week.

Clarke and fellow cricketers Aaron Finch and Tom Cooper joined Hughes's father and brother among the pallbearers who delivered the coffin to the hearse, which then set off in a procession through the town.