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| Wednesday, 28 January 2004 |
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Thousands honour David Hookes The Australian cricket team were among 15,000 mourners to pay their respects at the funeral of former Australian batsman David Hookes. Ricky Ponting's team were joined by famous faces from the cricketing world at the Adelaide Oval cricket ground. Former Australian captains Richie Benaud, Ian Chappell and Mark Taylor were also among the mourners. Hookes, the coach of state side Victoria, died last week following a fight at a Melbourne hotel bar. The grandstands at the ground were opened to the public for the ceremony, and thousands attended to honour one of Australian cricket's most popular characters. The former batsman is best remembered for hitting England captain Tony Grieg for five successive fours on his debut in the 1977 Centenary Test. "I think that innings is so typical of David, not only of his cricket career, but his life," Chappell told mourners. "When everybody else was struggling with the occasion, Hookes came along and put it all into perspective. "I can just imagine him saying, 'Well mate, it's just another game of cricket, a half-volley is a half-volley, you've got to whack it'." Grieg was among the mourners, alongside former West Indies skipper Clive Lloyd, ex-New Zealand captain Martin Crowe and actor Russell Crowe. Australian Test stalwarts Shane Warne, David Boon, Merv Hughes, Ian Healy and Dean Jones also attended. Darren Lehmann, one of eight pall-bearers, placed one of Hookes's old bats on the coffin before the massed ranks in the stands stood for an ovation. Hookes, 48, had been drinking at a bar with members of the Victoria and South Australia teams following a one-day ING Cup match when the incident which resulted in his death occurred. A 21-year-old hotel bouncer, Zdravco Micevic, has been charged with manslaughter and remanded on bail to appear in court again on 13 April. Hookes played 23 Tests between 1977 and 1986, scoring 1,306 runs at an average of 34.36. But his greatest batting feats came in domestic cricket, scoring more than 9,364 runs for South Australia, the fifth highest total in history. A separate memorial service will be held in Melbourne on 5 February. |
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