As family, friends, former teammates and cricket greats gathered in thousands at Macksville on Wednesday for late batsman Phillip Hughes' funeral, a heartbroken Sean Abbott, who delivered the bouncer that turned fatal for the late star, was also attended the funeral to pay his respects.
Abbott arrived at the Macksville funeral supported by his girlfriend Brier. He signed the condolences book before heading inside.
It is the first time on Wednesday that Abbott would have seen the Hughes family since the batsman passed away two days after being struck in the head by a bouncer last Tuesday at the SCG during a Sheffield Shield match, News.com.au reported.
The Hughes family has promised to greet Abbott with open arms. And they have also led the chorus of support for the young bowler that has spread around the cricketing world since the accident, with Hughes' sister Megan spending significant time with Abbott at the hospital as her brother's life hung in the balance.
The support went all the way up to Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott.
The show of emotional strength came just a day after Abbott returned to the nets for the first time following Hughes' death.
The notable attendees at Hughes' funeral included Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, opposition leader Bill Shorten, NSW Premier Mike Baird, Australian Test squad, Australian women's cricket team, Shane Warne, Sir Richard Hadlee, Glenn McGrath, Adam Gilchrist, Brian Lara, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Ravi Shastri, the report added.