{"id":268509,"date":"2025-11-07T09:36:16","date_gmt":"2025-11-07T09:36:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/268509\/"},"modified":"2025-11-07T09:36:16","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T09:36:16","slug":"ben-austins-teammates-return-to-the-cricket-nets-but-hes-still-with-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/268509\/","title":{"rendered":"Ben Austin\u2019s teammates return to the cricket nets. But he\u2019s still with them"},"content":{"rendered":"

One week after beloved Gully boy Ben Austin\u2019s death, the teenage cricketer\u2019s team returned to the nets \u2013 but they weren\u2019t without him on the field.<\/p>\n

Members of the Ferntree Gully Cricket Club, the 17-year-old\u2019s team, gathered at Wally Tew Reserve on Thursday for training, for the first time since the young cricketer\u2019s death last week<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Ferntree<\/p>\n

Ferntree Gully Cricket Club paid tribute to teammate Ben Austin, one week after his death.Credit: Ferntree Gully Cricket Club<\/p>\n

Putting their arms around one another, they encircled a tribute to Austin \u2013 his initials spray-painted onto the local oval along with his cap number: 512.<\/p>\n

Coach Josh Henry paid tribute to Ben, addressing players, supporters, committee members, volunteers and Ben\u2019s father Jace Austin. The team held a minute\u2019s silence for the 17-year-old by the club nets before training.<\/p>\n

The team held a second minute\u2019s silence on Friday evening for Ben, who died after he was struck by a cricket ball while practicing at the reserve with a friend in Melbourne\u2019s outer east on Tuesday last week.<\/p>\n

Club president Lee Thompson described Thursday\u2019s tribute as \u201can incredibly healing moment\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"Club<\/p>\n

Club members gathered along with Ben Austin\u2019s father, Jace.Credit: Ferntree Gully Cricket Club<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re a cricket club, ultimately, and we\u2019ve got to get on and play cricket again,\u201d Thompson told Nine News.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn honour of Ben, I think that\u2019s what we need to do.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One week after beloved Gully boy Ben Austin\u2019s death, the teenage cricketer\u2019s team returned to the nets \u2013…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":268510,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[64,63,740,85],"class_list":["post-268509","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cricket","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268509","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=268509"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268509\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/268510"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268509"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268509"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268509"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}