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Hughes tributes flow at the SCG

Grief replaces excitement as fans pay their respects

The Members' Entrance at the Sydney Cricket Ground, so often a hive of activity and expectation, has been a sombre place this week.

As the nation has tried to come to terms with the loss of Phillip Hughes, fans have gathered outside the ground where his first-class career began seven years ago, and where it sadly ended this week.

Instead of assembling in their thousands amid a buzz of anticipation and excitement as is so regularly seen on a morning of a Test match, people have stood alone or in small groups and come and gone in almost complete silence.

Some have left flowers and cricket bats, some have lit candles, while others have simply stood quietly and paid their respects.

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On Saturday morning, as captain Michael Clarke bravely paid tribute to his friend in a windowless room beneath the SCG’s new grandstand, people again gathered on Driver Avenue, outside the famous old Members' gates.

A group of young men, including NSW batsman Ryan Carters, came to add a bunch of flowers to the array of memorials that has slowly built up over the past few days.

A woman on her morning jog through the Moore Park precinct stopped, removed her headphones, and bent down to read the handwritten notes of support and well wishes.

Messages that have been etched on cards, bats and pads, offering support for Hughes's family, his teammates and NSW allrounder Sean Abbott, at whose feet no blame lies for what was simply a tragic accident.

A club cricketer in his whites parked his car across the road from the gates and, after a few minutes, got out of the drivers' seat, walked over and placed a pair of wicketkeeping gloves next to an Australian jersey that bears the number '63*'. He then stepped back, paused, and slowly walked away.

A young family of six, on their way home from Saturday sport, stood together for several minutes before they too quietly climbed back into their car and drove off.

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And so it went throughout the morning and will no doubt continue for days, foreseeably longer.

They were people of all ages and all walks of life, providing a snapshot of the vast cross-section of the community that has been affected by Hughes's sudden passing.

A community that has #putoutyourbats across the globe and shed tears for Hughes's loved ones.

People who, while they may have never met Hughes, have been touched by his premature passing on a deeply personal level.

Amid the flowers, flags and bats that rest against the Members' gates, a message penned in a simple card summed up the mood of all those who have visited the makeshift shrine this week.

It read: "I didn't know you personally but I know you inspired me and many others. Your life was a triumph and Cricket NSW & Australia won't be the same without you. You will be missed, but heaven gained a champion today."

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