Australia farewells cricketer Phillip Hughes

 Thousands of people walked through the streets of Macksville on Wednesday to mark the funeral for cricketer Phillip Hughes.

The funeral of the cricketer, who died at the age of 25, started at a high school recreation hall in his hometown.

In a tearful tribute to his 'younger brother', Australian  captain Michael Clarke said in his speech: "I walked to the middle of the SCG on Thursday night ... those same blades of grass beneath my feet where he and I and so many of his mates here today had built partnerships, taken chances and lived out the dreams we painted in our heads as boys."

""I stood there at the wicket, I kneeled down and touched the grass. I swear he was with me, picking me up to my feet to check if I was ok, telling me we we just needed to 'dig in, get through to tea', telling me off for that loose shot I played, chatting about what movie we might watch that night, and then passing on a useless fact about cows," he said.

Clarke and the rest of the Test squad were joined by former and current players from around the world, besides friends and relatives from Hughes' hometown on the northern coast of New South Wales state - located about 575 kilometers north of Sydney.

India's stand-in skipper Virat Kohli, team director Ravi Shastri, Team India coach Duncan Fletcher and team manager Arshad Ayub were also present in Hughes’ hometown, media reports said.

The service closed with Elton John's popular number “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me” - the same song he had performed at a concert last weekend in Germany in tribute to Hughes.