SCG’s tragic pitch No. seven retired

Sydney Cricket Ground’s Pitch No. 7, the 22-yard strip on which Phillip Hughes fell after being fatally struck by a bouncer on head, has been retired. The wicket square at the SCG has 10 pitches. Hughes received his fatal blow on pitch No. 7 and fell face-forward. He succumbed to the blow in the hospital a few days later, leaving the cricketing world in shock. Curator Tom Parker told ‘The Australian’ that particular pitch on which Hughes was struck by a Sean Abbott bouncer would be getting the cold shoulder for a while. No batsman could be expected to ply his trade on it. No curator could be expected to prepare it. Parker will give it another chance at next year’s World Cup. “Pitch no. 7 has been retired,” Parker said, as 3000 people converged on the SCG to watch the coverage of Hughes’s funeral on the big screen on Wednesday. New South Wales play a Sheffield Shield match at the SCG next week. It will probably start on Tuesday.  “It breaks my heart, what’s happened. I never thought I’d see someone die out here. I love this place. We won’t use that particular pitch for a long time,” Parker said.