Australia and India teams among those to pay tribute to Ben Austin

Tributes have been paid around the world for 17-year-old Melbourne cricketer Ben Austin, who died on Thursday after an accident batting in the nets.

He was struck in the neck by a ball thrown by a sidearm while practicing at Ferntree Cricket Club. His life support was turned off on Thursday morning.

Ahead of the T20I between Australia and India at the MCG, both teams stood with match officials and representatives from Austin's cricket clubs for a moment's silence, with a crowd approaching 75,000 at the time, while Austin's image was shown on the big screen and his cap placed on a plinth on the outfield. Players from each team and the match officials also wore black armbands.

Overnight at the women's World Cup, both the Australia and India teams wore black armbands in their semi-final.

In the Sheffield Shield matches that concluded on Friday, teams put their bats out in memory of Austin and wore black armbands while a minute's silence was held before the resumption of the Victoria-Tasmania game at Junction Oval in Melbourne.

Around the world, cricket boards and players offered their condolences.

On Thursday, Austin's father Jace said that cricket was a huge part of his life. "This tragedy has taken Ben from us, but we find some comfort that he was doing something he did for so many summers - going down to the nets with mates to play cricket," he said in a statement. "He loved cricket and it was one of the joys of his life."

Cricket Australia and Cricket Victoria are providing support.

"It makes you so proud to realise how connected the cricket community is and how much we look after each other ... but it's a shame that it's these moments that remind you of that very fact," Cricket Victoria CEO Nick Cummins told reporters on Friday.

"Ben was the classic Aussie boy or girl who loved footy in the winter and cricket in the summer. He is how we would like all of our children to turn out, and was living the dream."

The accident has raised questions about the use of sidearms, or wangers, at club and junior level and also whether greater protection should be mandated. Austin was wearing a helmet but it did not include a stem guard, which are now compulsory in Cricket Australia-sanctioned matches but currently only "strongly recommended" at community level.

"I think the temptation in moments like this is to move to solution mode," Cummins said on Thursday. "At the moment, our focus is around providing support and counselling for those people who experienced the trauma. There will be an appropriate time to review that and answer those questions."

Friend and team-mate Liam Vertigan said Ferntree Gully Cricket Club was in a state of shock over the death of such an energetic young man.

"He lived and breathed his cricket," Mr Vertigan told AAP. "He was just well loved by us all, very, very polite, always with a smile on his face."

Within hours of the tragedy, dozens of flower bouquets, sweet treats and a handful of cricket bats left by grieving friends had turned into a memorial for the teen.

The accident came more than a decade after the death of Phillip Hughes, who was struck in the neck with a ball while batting in a Sheffield Shield game at the SCG. Hughes' family were among those sending condolences, expressing hope that Austin's family would be comforted by cherished memories of the teenager.

As of Friday afternoon, a GoFundMe for Austin's family had raised over AUD$120,000.