Next week’s first Test between Australia and India should go ahead because Phillip Hughes would have wanted it to go ahead.
That is the opinion of national selector Mark Waugh, given the country boy’s love of cricket.
“If Phillip was still alive would he want Australia to go out and play the game? I am sure he would,” Waugh, the national selector on duty at the SCG when Hughes was felled, said.
“I have no idea (if the first Test will be abandoned) … so much is up in the air.”
The sport will never be the same following Hughes’ shock death from a bouncer.
The long-term ramifications are unclear.
The short-term aftermath is equally uncertain.
The tragedy has deeply affected Australian cricketers past and present, causing many to ask whether the opening Test should start in Brisbane next Thursday.
The Test squad is yet to consider the issue.
Nobody at Cricket Australia has considered such a trivial matter at the moment.
“We haven’t thought that far ahead and we really don’t think it is appropriate at this time,” CA chief executive James Sutherland said on Thursday.
“The whole of Australian cricket is grieving.
“All we want to do is to provide the Hughes family all of the support we possibly can.
“In the fullness of time we’ll think about what’s ahead.”
Test players Brad Haddin, David Warner, Shane Watson and Nathan Lyon were all in the field for NSW when they watched Hughes slump to the ground after being struck.
Captain Michael Clarke was a near-constant presence during Hughes’ time at St Vincent’s Hospital.
“In a strange way it will be probably the best thing that they go out to train and play in a game,” Ian Chappell told Fox.
“At least while you are on the field or in the nets you will have something else to concentrate on.
“Because every moment you are off the field you are going to be thinking about Phillip Hughes and what happened.”
Memorial and funeral plans will also be a factor when it comes time to make a call on the first Test.
India team director Ravi Shastri did not want to comment when asked about the prospect of cancelling the first Test.
The tourists’ second two-day tour game was called off on Thursday, CA not wanting its grief-stricken players to take the field at Adelaide Oval.
Given the upcoming jam-packed schedule, it would be difficult to reschedule the first Test this summer.
It means if the match does not go ahead, it is likely to be abandoned.
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