The older brother of Phillip Hughes returned to Sydney club cricket for the first time this weekend since the Australia batsman's death, scoring an appropriate 63. Jason Hughes reached the total for Mosman against Sydney, the same number of runs his brother had made when he was fatally struck by a bouncer two weeks ago.
The elder Hughes was said by team-mates to be emotional when walking out to bat for the first time since Phillip died on November 27, and also when he reached 50.
Reports said he did not know the score he was on when he was dismissed. Jason had been encouraged by Phillip to move to Sydney to play cricket and spoke at his brother's funeral, thanking him for helping him develop as a person and a cricketer. "You have given me confidence, strength, you supported me and gave me a strong desire to succeed," he said.
There was also a tribute to Phillip at the first Test against India in Adelaide, where his friend David Warner looked skywards during an on-field post-match interview to thank him for the team's 48-run win on Saturday.
Asked during the Adelaide Test if 63 will now hold a special significance in Australia, Warner told reporters: "In this generation I think 100 percent, it's going to be with us for the rest of our careers.
"A lot of people would have raised their bats at 63 but in the back of our minds we always are going to look up there and know he's (Hughes) going to be looking down on us. I am going to carry that for the rest of my career."
Hughes died from bleeding on the brain, two days after being knocked unconscious by a bouncer while batting for South Australia against New South Wales.
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