There were five thousand people in Macksville, double the population of this New South Wales country town, for the funeral of Phillip Hughes. But the words of just one of them resonated around the cricketing world. Michael Clarke proved himself more than the Australian captain as he addressed prime minister Tony Abbott and the family and friends of Hughes. He was a statesman. Clarke was immense, as he has been ever since the tragic accident last week that rocked the cricket world and claimed the life of the close friend and team-mate he called his ‘little brother’. Michael Carke delivers an emotional eulogy to his friend and 'little brother' Phillip Hughes on Wednesday
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Phillip Hughes' funeral held in his home town at Macksville High School
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Australia captain Michael Clarke was a pall bearer and read a eulogy
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Hughes died last Thursday two days after being hit by a bouncer at SCG
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Cricketers of the past and present, including Mitchell Johnson, Steve Smith, Shane Warne, Adam Gilchrist and Brian Lara, were in attendance
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Clarke said: 'Rest in peace my little brother. I'll see you out in the middle'
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There were no official England representatives present at the service
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Nick Compton, a close friend of Hughes from their time at Middlesex, attended privately, as did Sam Robson
The funeral of Hughes took place in Macksville on Wednesday as @placeholder remembered the batsman
Abbott was in the congregation, too, and it is the hope of the cricketing world, not least @placeholder’ parents and his brother and sister, that he should in time be able to adhere to Clarke’s words and play on himself.