Ben Austin loved watching cricket at Junction Oval.

Now, it's where his heartbroken family and friends will bid their final farewell to the young cricketer who never came home from training after a freak accident.

The 17-year-old died after being struck in the neck by a ball while batting in the nets in Ferntree Gully in Melbourne's east on October 30.

Teammates rushed to help before paramedics took him in a critical condition to hospital, where he later died.

Mourners have been encouraged to wear their cricket club jerseys, scarves or a splash of colour to his funeral on Thursday at the historic oval in St Kilda.

Family members are expected to deliver the eulogy and a hearse will complete a lap around the ground in Ben's honour before he is laid to rest at a private burial.

His fath

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