Australian cricketers to wear '408' during first Test against India in tribute to Phillip Hughes

The Australian cricket team will wear number 408 in honour of Phillip Hughes below the national emblem during the first Test against India at Adelaide. Hughes, who sadly passed away last week, was the 408th Test cricketer to wear the Baggy Green.

In normal circumstances, each player of the team would wear the number which is given to them at the time of their debut on their shirts, but every Australian player will instead wear Hughes’s number in tribute to the late left-handed batsman at the Adelaide Oval.

The Australians returned to training today for the first time since Hughes’s death, which shook the world of cricket. The funeral, which was held on Wednesday in the cricketer’s hometown of Macksville, was attended by the entire Australian team.

Coach Darren Lehmann, speaking to the media, stated that the game must continue and Hughes would have wanted it no other way.

“Stick together. We lost a family member from our cricket community and now it’s a case of rallying around his family and the whole CA cricket family and get on with what we do and that’s play some cricket. Hughes would want us to do that as well. We’ve spoken about it plenty over the past few days,” Lehmann said.

Cricket Australia posted a Vine of Michael Clarke returning to the nets on Saturday after what has been a tough week for the Australian captain.

The Aussie skipper back where he belongs - in the nets with his teammates https://t.co/b4ViWiJCo1

— cricket.com.au (@CricketAus) December 6, 2014