The Australian cricket fraternity has been in a state of grief for over a week now, since Phillip Hughes passed away. The national players, who are to take part in an all important Test series against India from December 9, have been distracted by the tragedy.
The Australian squad for the first Test gathered in Adelaide on Thursday and had their first training session on Friday. Speaking on behalf of his team, coach, Darren Lehmann said the players must overcome their grief and focus all their energies on the task at hand.
“Only time will tell (if the boys have gotten over the grief) but I’m sure they are going to be fine,” Lehmann said. “They are looking forward to getting back out there and playing some cricket, training and getting ready for a Test match.
“Hughesy would want us to do that as well. It’s a case of getting out there today and getting their skills sharp enough for a Test match starting Tuesday.
“It’s never been dealt with before so it’s going to be a big challenge for us. Having said that we getting out to play some cricket and that is the key for everyone.”
It was felt that Hughes’ funeral, which took place in Macksville a couple of days ago, would have given the players a sense of closure and the strength to move on with their lives. Lehmann agreed.
“They want to get out there and do what they have done for many years, enjoy the game we all love. We have spoken about it plenty over the last few days. We had a great send-off for Hughesy the other day and we thank the people of Macksville and the Hughes family for that. Now it’s a case of us trying to play some cricket,” the coach said.
Lehmann said all members of the team will have to help one another out emotionally and encourage each other to stay strong.
“Stick together, basically. We lost a family member from our cricket community and now it’s a case of rallying around each other, rallying around his family and the whole Cricket Australia cricket family and get on with what we do well, that is play some cricket.”
When asked about the captain, Michael Clarke, who is not only devastated by the death of his very close friend but is also nursing a hamstring injury, Lehmann said they will depend on the doctor’s advice regarding whether he will play the first Test or not.
“He is pretty mentally strong as we saw throughout the week. He was great with the Hughes family and held himself together really well, led the team really well. He flies in this afternoon. We’ll get him out here tomorrow, get him batting and see how he goes.”
“As long as he is fine, he can do the running and bat at the level he needs to we’ll be fine, we want our captain playing, as simple as that.”
By: BCCI
