SYDNEY, June 25: Australian cricketing greats joined Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on Wednesday at the funeral of former Test bowler Glenn McGrath’s wife Jane, who died at the weekend after a long bout with cancer.

At a service in the same Sydney church where the pair were married in 1999, mourners paid tribute to Jane McGrath and her work supporting women with breast cancer through the McGrath Foundation.

The 42-year-old lost her 11-year fight with the disease on Sunday, leaving behind her husband and two children James, eight, and Holly, six.

Glenn McGrath arrived with his children at the service, which was also attended by former Test cricketers Shane Warne, Steve Waugh, Darren Lehmann, Ian Healy and Michael Bevan.

Former Wallabies coach Alan Jones, now a Sydney talkback radio host, praised McGrath’s determination to help others, despite her own illness.

“Every day was a battle, yet paradoxically every day she sought to strengthen others in their same battle,” he said.

“While the foundation was the centre of her life, it was also the hardest thing in her life.”—AFP