28 Nov 2014

#PutOutYourBats: mourning the death of Phillip Hughes

Cricket fans and sports stars including Sachin Tendulkar, Geoffrey Boycott and Stuart Broad join a touching global tribute to the Australian cricketer who died on Thursday.

Sport stars, celebrities and cricket fans have united to pay their respects to the late Australian batsman Philip Hughes.

The 25-year-old died on Thursday two days after being struck in the neck during a domestic match in Australia. Thousands of people have posted photographs on Twitter, using hashtags #putoutyourbats and #putyourbatout.

Cricket Australia led the tribute, placing 63 bats in the window of its Melbourne offices, one for each run he scored in his final innings for South Australia against New South Wales.

Google Australia adapted its homepage while the England cricketing team, who are training in Sri Lanka, have also participated.

Before their practice session at the Premadasa stadium in Colombo ahead of Saturday’s second one-day international against Sri Lanka, Alastair Cook’s team lined up the bats of the whole 15-strong squad outside the dressing room.

The movement started spontaneously but has been traced back to Paul Taylor, a cricket fan from Sydney, who posted a picture of his bat leant against a wall with a cap on the handle and the hashtag #putoutyourbats.

Here is a selection of other tributes: