408 declared in 63 overs

A batsman in a club match in Victoria has paid a touching tribute to Phillip Hughes by deciding to sacrifice breaking a long-standing record.

According to a report in The Courier Mail, Shaun McArthur, captain of Ballarat club side Haddon, was batting on 220 and was blazing his way to the club’s all-time batting record in a match against local rivals VRI Delacombe, but decide to retire after glancing at the scoreboard.

His team-mates were stunned by his decision but realised their skipper’s move when they looked at the scoreboard.

Haddon was on 408, which was Hughes’ Test number for Australia, and there had been 63 overs bowled.

Hughes was batting on 63 when he was fatally struck by a Sean Abbott bouncer.
After that ‘63 not out’ has become a preferred way to pay tribute to Hughes as junior club cricketers across Australia were encouraged to retire on 63.
“Everyone walked up and shook his hand,” Haddon club spokesman Vincent McDonald told The Courier.

“It was a chance innings. You can’t plan to have scores like this 220 runs for a player and 408 (total) in the standard of cricket we play.

“Shaun must’ve just noticed the score and thought, ‘That’ll do’.”
The Sydney Cricket Ground will be open to the public on Wednesday for a live screening of Hughes’ funeral.

According to report in Daily Telegraph, the SCG will show the live feed of Channel Nine’s broadcast on their super screens.

Hughes’ funeral will be held in his home town of Macksville at on Wednesday.
“Phillip made his first-class debut at the SCG and played his first Test on Australian soil at the SCG,” SCG’s chief executive Jamie Barkley said. “He played more first-class and Test cricket at the SCG than any other venue in the world.

“We invite the people of NSW to pay their respects to Phillip by watching his funeral service at the SCG. It is fitting that the people whose lives he touched can say farewell from a ground where he had so much success,” he said.