The Shane Warne stand at Junction Oval was a sea of cricket shirts, football jumpers and scarves as friends and family gathered to farewell Melbourne teenager Ben Austin, who died in a tragic cricket accident last month.

Ben, 17, was struck in the neck by a ball while practising in the nets at Wally Tew Reserve in Ferntree Gully, in Melbourne's outer east.

He later died in hospital.

Junction Oval in St Kilda — the home of Cricket Victoria — was a fitting venue for the sports-mad boy who loved cricket and football.

A framed photo of Ben sat on a table on the oval alongside a football bearing his name, signed Collingwood and Waverley Park Hawks football jumpers, and the 2023 AFL premiership cup. A cricket bat with his name and the number 521 leant on the table.

Funeral celebrant Jenni

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