The funeral for cricketer Phillip Hughes turned into a celebration of his life on Wednesday despite the grief and sorrow still evident from his death.

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The funeral for cricketer Phillip Hughes turned into a celebration of his life on Wednesday despite the grief and sorrow still evident from his death. (All Getty, AP and AFP images)

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The outpouring of emotions over the tragic death of Phillip Hughes continues and the Sydney Cricket Ground, where the youngster was fatally struck on his head, paid its tribute by putting out 63 bats inside the stadium as a mark of remembrance to his final score.

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In steaming temperatures of nearly 30 Celsius (85F) early arrivals to the service, including Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, fanned themselves with papers. Most of those who wore sports jackets and blazers had taken them off, some with sleeves of their white shirts rolled up to their elbows.

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Clarke was a pallbearer and spoke at the funeral service held at the Macksville Recreation Centre and which opened to the song "Forever Young" by Youth Group.

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Australia captain Michael Clarke and the rest of the Test squad were joined by former and current players from around the world, and friends and relatives from Hughes' hometown of 2,500 people on the northern coast of New South Wales state, 575 kilometers (350 miles north of Sydney).

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The funeral was broadcast live around Australia on commercial television stations and on video screens at the Adelaide Oval, where the rescheduled first test with India will start next Tuesday, and the SCG, where a row of 63 bats were propped up against pickets, each with an inscription of a special moment of Hughes' career.

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The Vatican's cricket team has honored Australia's Phillip Hughes with a memorial Mass in Rome on the eve of his funeral in Australia.

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Michael Clarke said the tributes offered from sports stars and fans across the globe had sustained him, from a little girl holding a candle in tribute, to masters of the game such as Sachin Tendulkar expressing sorrow.

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As thousands walked through the streets of Macksville, millions around the world stopped to remember Hughes.

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Mourners lay flowers next to the pitch where Hughes fell after receiving a being hit by a bouncer.

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The service closed with Elton John's "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me," the same song the famous entertainer and avid cricket fan performed at a concert last weekend in Germany in tribute to Hughes.

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Virginia Hughes, center, mother of Australian cricketer Phillip Hughes, walks behind her son's coffin during his funeral in Macksville.

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India's stand-in skipper Virat Kohli, team director Ravi Shastri, coach Duncan Fletcher and team manager Arshad Ayub were also in attendance in Hughes' hometown.

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Cricket Photos

Phillip Hughes Funeral: Macksville Bids Farewell to its Favourite Son

The funeral for cricketer Phillip Hughes turned into a celebration of his life on Wednesday despite the grief and sorrow still evident from his death.