Ashes 2025: Australia & England To Don Black Armbands At Adelaide Test To Honour Victims Of Bondi Beach Shooting

Adelaide [Australia]: Players from Australia and England will wear black armbands during the third Ashes Test at Adelaide Oval, starting Wednesday, in tribute to the victims of the shooting at Sydney's Bondi Beach, as per ESPNcricinfo.

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The attack, which took place on December 14 as crowds gathered to celebrate the first night of Hanukkah, left fifteen people dead and several others injured in Sydney's eastern suburbs.

Flags at Adelaide Oval will be lowered to half-mast, and a moment of silence will be observed on Wednesday before the 'Welcome to Country' ceremony and national anthems, ahead of the first day's play. Australian folk singer John Williamson will also perform his song 'True Blue' in tribute to the victims of the shooting, as per ESPNcricinfo.

Australia captain Pat Cummins said he was "horrified" upon learning about the attacks on Sunday night.

"Like most other Aussies and people around the world, [I was] horrified watching on. I'd just put the kids to bed and flicked the news on as that was coming through. My wife and I were watching in disbelief," Cummins said ahead of the Adelaide Test, as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.

Cummins, whose home is near Bondi, added, “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 the 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.”

England captain Ben Stokes described the Bondi Beach attacks as an "incredibly sad" day for Australia, recalling how he and his teammates watched the events unfold on the news from their Adelaide hotel room in stunned silence.

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"What happened a couple of days ago was an awful thing to watch unfold. We were sitting 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," Stokes said.