The worst imaginable circumstances have revealed a strength of character in Australian cricket's leaders, and many others behind the scenes.

Captain Michael Clarke, Cricket Australia chief James Sutherland, his NSW equivalent Andrew Jones, team doctor Peter Brukner, new Australian Cricketers Association boss Alistair Nicholson. All have consoled and counselled devastated colleagues in private, given voice to the grief of their teams in public, and somehow found the words to pay tribute to Phillip Hughes. All while dealing with their own grief.

Sporting bodies prepare for disasters. Cricket, especially, is awake to the possibility of security threats and terrorist attacks. But there is no crisis blueprint, no leadership course, no management school that prepares an organisation to cope with what happened to Hughes or the players who were with him when he was hit by a bouncer on Tuesday.

No Australian captain has had to do a job more difficult than the one Clarke did on behalf of his teammates on Saturday, when he fought back tears as he read a statement that laid bare the grief of the national team and their love for "Hughesy".

"We're going to miss that cheeky grin and that twinkle in his eye. He epitomised what the baggy green is about and what it means to us all. The world lost one of its great blokes this week, and we are all poorer for it. Our promise to Hughesy's family is that we will do everything we can to honour his memory," Clarke said, fighting to control his voice.

"Last night I asked Cricket Australia if Hughesy's Australian one-day international shirt No. 64, could be retired, to which they agreed. That means so much."

Clarke's was a huge effort, even greater when you consider the fatigue and distress that must have built up since he heard of Hughes' injury, and rang a journalist in the SCG press box to find out which hospital his friend was being taken to. Brukner, who was dispatched to Sydney on the night of the accident, has spoken of Clarke's almost constant presence at Hughes' hospital bed, his support for Hughes' father Greg, mother Virginia, sister Megan and brother Jason. Since then it has emerged that Clarke ensured every player who visited the hospital was ushered to Hughes' bedside and allowed to spend time with him; there was a roster of sorts.

It seems like an eon ago, but Sutherland had spent Tuesday morning at the MCG, where he launched Cricket Australia's diversity and inclusion blueprint alongside retired champions Adam Gilchrist and Lisa Sthalekar, with the Sheffield Shield game between Victoria and Western Australia going on in the background. He was preoccupied by the saga surrounding Clarke's fitness, but those concerns paled into insignificance when he heard that Hughes had been hit, and that it was serious.

Sutherland has never sought a public profile to match chief executives from other codes, and is not especially comfortable in the spotlight, but since he stood outside his Jolimont office surrounded by media on Tuesday afternoon he has balanced the need to shield distraught family members and players, with the need to honour Hughes. A former paceman, he spent a long time with young fast bowler Sean Abbott at a gathering for current and former players at the SCG members' bar, which was held open all night so players could stay together if they wanted to.

For Sutherland, Jones and CA's team performance boss Pat Howard, the welfare of players has been the priority, calling in experts such as sports psychologist Michael Lloyd and Cricket NSW welfare manager Justine Whipper. As the awful reality that Hughes would not recover set in, staff at the Australian Cricketers Association headed straight from the office to the airport, bound for Sydney without so much as a change of clothes, to look after their members.

To watch Clarke struggle through the statement was to realise that he and his teammates are on a long road, and that they might not be capable of playing in a Test four days from now even if they want to.

"His [Hughes'] legacy of trying to improve each and every day will drive us for the rest of our lives. We'd like to thank everyone both here and overseas for the touching tributes to Hughesy in recent days," Clarke said, before a long pause. "Our dressing room will never be the same. We loved him and always will. Rest in peace, Bruzzy."