LOCAL school-children have been putting out their bats in honour of Australian batsman Phillip Hughes as the nation prepares to farewell the cricketer today.
Swan Hill Primary School has led the way, with more than 40 students bringing cricket bats into school yesterday.
Grade 5 teacher and Junior School Council coordinator Danielle Pretty said despite their youth her students had been conscious of the loss of the 25-year-old opener, who was tragically killed by a bouncer during a match on November 27.
“Some of the boys are mad cricket fans, and I am one myself, so we all had a bit of a chat the other day and decided to invite all the kids to bring in their bats,” Ms Pretty said.
“I know I’ve got Grade 5s who wanted to speak about it quite a lot, they have been sharing their stories. One girl said her dad had cried while he watched it on the news.
“They brought in their own bats, their brothers’, their dad’s, even miniature ones, novelty bats, anything they had to bring.”
The students even played a spontaneous game of cricket at lunch-time, to a scale not often seen in the playground.
“I was on yard duty today and we probably had 20 or 30 kids playing cricket out there, and their bats were all in row nearby,” Ms Pretty said.
Phillip Hughes will be farewelled today at 2pm AEDT, at Macksville High School in Macksville, New South Wales.
The service will be screened live at cricket stadiums across Australia and broadcasted on national TV and radio.
For more on this story, pick up a copy of Wednesday’s Guardian (December 3).
