Haddin seeks Australia's support in wake of Hughes death

The Australian players are back in training for Tuesday’s series opener just days after gathering at Macksville in New South Wales for the funeral of their team-mate Phillip Hughes.

Hughes, 25, died on November 27 from bleeding on the brain, two days after being knocked unconscious by a bouncer in Sydney, plunging the cricketing world into mourning.

“We need the support of the Australian public and everyone leading into this first Test,” Haddin told reporters at the Adelaide Oval on Saturday.

“We’re looking forward to playing and we need the help of everyone to enjoy the moment and just enjoy the game of cricket. Our job is to go and play cricket.”

Haddin said it would be important not to over complicate things in the wake of the Hughes tragedy and the outpouring of grief over his death.

“I don’t think you need to look too deep into what’s going to happen. You’re going to get a cricket game here on Tuesday, you’ll enjoy it and so will we,” Haddin said.

“We get back to playing the game we love. I don’t think you need to complicate it any more than that.”

Haddin was behind the stumps for New South Wales when South Australian batsman Hughes was fatally struck by a bouncer at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

The 37-year-old wicketkeeper replied in typical no-nonsense fashion when asked whether he would be mentally right to play the opening Test of the four-match series.

“Yep,” was all he said.

Hughes’ death and the grief that enveloped the entire Test squad was not mentioned by Haddin on Saturday.

“Cricket is just a game,” he said, when asked if the sport will ever be the same again.

“We can try to complicate it as much as we want, but we got back to cricket training. We needed to feel that cricket hurt in our legs again so we got that.” (AFP)