Phillip Hughes: Funeral in the newsroom

The newsroom, usually a light-hearted environment, was quiet and sombre on the day.

As they mourned Phillip Hughes at the funeral, the CricketCountry newsroom suddenly felt as eerie as a graveyard. Abhishek Mukherjee provides an editor’s perspective.

The newsroom buzzes with the kind of excitement breaking news is supposed to generate. The chatter is ubiquitous. As the day progresses in CricketCountry, puns (terrible ones, at times) keep floating in the air. People speak in commentary clichés irrespective of whether they are covering a match or not. The day passes in fun and frolic.

Today was different. It was quiet and sombre, the only sounds being the instructions passed on to each other by fellow journalists; barring that it was the live streaming of the funeral on the internet, punctuated by only the monotonous khat-khat-khat of typing.

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I had been wondering why I had been so upset about Phillip Hughes. He was one of many. He was a good talent, but certainly not a legend. I had not grown up with him. I had not watched him grow. I had seen him score those twin tons, but then, I have seen other performances that outshone his. I had memories of Hughes, but not vivid memories.

Then why the pain?

I had seen Michael Clarke break down a couple of days ago. I saw him speak again today, along with others of the Hughes family. The atmosphere was solemn. The anecdotes formed a lump in my throat. Fleeting memories of the cheeky smile came back.

Then I spotted them: Mitchell Johnson, the man who was brutal and menacing enough to bounce out England and decimate South Africa, and is the person Indians were likely to fear the most, could not help control his tears; neither could the brutal David Warner. Grim-faced Ravi Shastri and Virat Kohli — neither known for good temperament — followed the pallbearers. There were more.

Then came the tweets, one by one. News channels. Websites. Cricketers. Administrators. Fans. Everyone. Some were routine ones. Others, heartfelt. And I finally realised what I should have a few days ago. I knew, I now know, why my heart aches for the man.

Hughes was family. He was part of the humongous family we call cricket. We did not mourn for a man we saw scoring hundreds on television, being scrutinised by commentators, being praised and ripped apart by media. He was one of our own.

And then, Sherryn Hollioake, wife of Adam, tweeted:

Ben & Phillip can now be cheeky, handsome & cool together. Two young men who are still larger than life. #PhillipHughes #63notout

— Sherryn Hollioake (@sherryn74) December 3, 2014

Yes, Hughes was family. Just like Ben used to be. Not only to Sherryn and Adam, but to all of us. To everyone in the newsroom, which is yet to find its voice.

(Abhishek Mukherjee is the Chief Editor and Cricket Historian at CricketCountry. He blogs here and can be followed on Twitter here.)

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