Fifteen people died and many others sustained injuries after gunmen opened fire on crowds gathered in Sydney’s eastern suburbs to mark the first night of Hanukkah, the Jewish holiday.
“Like most other Aussies and people round the world, [I was] horrified watching on,” Cummins said after training on Tuesday. “I’d just put the kids to bed and flicked the news on as that was coming through. Me and my wife were watching in disbelief.
“It does put things into a lot of perspective when you see things like that happen. And for everyone that it’s affected, all our hearts go out to everyone. It’s a horrible thing to see happen”
Ben Stokes
“It’s a place that is just around the corner from where we live, and we take the kids there all the time. It hit home pretty hard. I really feel for the Bondi community, and Jewish community in particular. Seeing the scenes over the past couple of days has been pretty powerful as well. We’ll wear armbands throughout the Test and commemorate the victims.”
“What happened a couple of days ago was an awful thing to watch unfold,” Stokes, England’s captain, said. “We were sat in our team room and it came up on the news about what was happening. It was silence from everyone in there seeing that happen.
“It’s incredibly sad for Australia, for Sydney and for the world. It does put things into a lot of perspective when you see things like that happen. And for everyone that it’s affected, all our hearts go out to everyone. It’s a horrible thing to see happen.”
Todd Greenberg, Cricket Australia’s chief executive, said that the third Test would bring “millions of people together” to acknowledge and pay tribute to the victims of the attack and those affected by it.
“This is a tragic time for all Australians and the thoughts of everyone in the cricket world are with the victims of this terrible event, their families, friends and the Jewish community,” Greenberg said. “While sport can seem insignificant at times like this, we have the unusual opportunity to bring millions of people together to pay tribute, to console and to contemplate what we want our nation to be.
“I’m grateful John has agreed to perform ‘True Blue’ which has at its essence the ideal of Australians from all backgrounds sharing the same hopes and aspirations. As John said recently, ‘I believe in a multicultural society, one where all Australians come together in unity to celebrate our unique multicultural nature and freedoms’.
“We will continue to look at ways cricket can support and honour those who have been affected by the Bondi shootings and thank those who provided assistance during and since this tragedy.”
South Australia Premier Peter Malinauskas said on Monday that the attacks would prompt extra security protocols for the third Test, which is sold out for the first three days. “Given the events that have occurred [on Sunday] in Sydney, there will be additional protocols put in place at Adelaide Oval,” he said. “This is done only as a precautionary measure, but it is appropriate that we are at a crescent sense of alertness just at the moment for the time being.”
