By Roger Vaughan
December 11th 2009 @ 1:39am
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Langer, Hayden talk up Hughes as long-term prospect
Australian cricket’s most prolific opening combination have called on Phil Hughes to be patient, saying he remains an outstanding prospect.
Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer also praised current Test opening batsmen Shane Watson and Simon Katich, but clearly rate Hughes highly as a long-term prospect.
Hughes was dropped during this year’s Ashes series, while Watson came so [...]
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![In any other A-League season, the end of the most recent round, the seventh, would have marked the end of the first third of the season.
But with two more teams and six more rounds, Chris Beath’s final whistle in Brisbane last Sunday took us just over a quarter of the way into the season.
By track [...] Tony Tannous: From the penthouse to the basement, and back again?](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/vidmar-th.jpg)
![There’s been some interesting sporting experiments in recent years: Nadal and Federer playing on a half-clay, half-grass court; the ICC World XI playing Australia in a Super Test and three one-day internationals; and the golfing obsession of seeing how the best females would go on the men’s tour.
They didn’t really prove much.
We already knew [...] Benjamin Conkey: Let’s test today’s champions using yesterday’s equipment](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/giggs-football-immortality-th.jpg)
![I have never been more disinterested in a one-day series. Australia wins, Australia loses, who cares? Craig White scores runs, Nathan Hauritz takes wickets. Big deal!
This is a crowded time of the sports year and the care factor for these games is lower than Kyle Sandilands’ approval rating.
All and sundry have acknowledged the demise [...] David Wiseman: Farewell One Day cricket, thanks for the memories](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/botha-got-justice-th.jpg)
![By the time many of you have read this, Pim Verbeek will have announced his squad for the upcoming internationals against the Netherlands and Oman at a press conference scheduled for 9am in Sydney.
It remains unclear just how many players Verbeek will pick, let alone how many A-Leaguers will get a gig, but here a [...] Tony Tannous: Porter should be front of thought for Pim](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/time-for-socceroos-th.jpg)
![Troy Bayliss continues imperiously towards his third World Superbike crown tonight at Vallelunga, Italy. When he claims the crown, it won’t command back page headlines or sports bulletins in Australia.
Sporting success by Aussie athletes competing overseas is taken for granted in this country.
But Bayliss deserves to be considered amongst the great Australian sporting exports.
In [...] Adrian Musolino: Bayliss one of Australia’s great sporting exports](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/troy-bayliss-th.jpg)
![There was a strange mood around the DW Stadium in Wigan on Saturday night following the Kangaroos defeat of England, and it was tricky to work out just what you’d witnessed and what it all meant. Saturday’s Test was certainly the best example of ‘a game of two halves’ I’d seen in a long, long [...] Steve Kaless: Kangaroos win a hard one to read](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/kangaroos-win-hard-one-th.jpg)
![I settled in front of the box late on Sunday night to catch the most recent episode of the Australian cricket team’s trek through Britain. I wanted to check whether the loss of the Ashes (a TEST series) would have any impact on their performance in shorter forms of the game, especially with the captain [...] Geoff Lawson: Twenty20 can be fun, but only if you’re winning](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/twenty20-can-be-fun-th.jpg)
![As the time of the year rapidly approaches where we take time to reflect on all things good and bad over the past twelve months, it seems the perfect time for me to cleanse the mind of all those seemingly confident and assured predictions made this year on The Roar.
So where do I start?
Well, back [...] Brett McKay: Confessing the worst sports predictions of 2009](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/david-warner-th.jpg)
![On the 23rd of March 1895, on a grassy clearing in Northern London, a group of women gathered to make history. Few would notice, and even fewer cared. But history it was. A whistle was blown and 22 women played out the first recorded game of women’s football.
For the record, North London won 7-1 [...] Davidde Corran: Women’s football is finally back in business](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/womens-football-bompastor-sauerbrunn-th.jpg)
![The appointment of Kevin Sheedy to the new Western Sydney franchise has most in the AFL world talking. Whether it is a good idea or not, it has definitely generated interest amongst the AFL community.
Sheedy has been a master for years now at what people believe he does best, and that’s coaching. But he [...] Troy Chaplin: Sheedy’s appointment smart, but it’ll take time to work](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/sheedy-signing-sydney-th.jpg)
![Last week, Cricket Australia issued a brief statement confirming that the chairman of the selection panel for Australia’s national cricket teams, Andrew Hilditch, has been re-appointed for two more years.
This means that Hilditch will preside over the selection policies and processes involved in trying to regain the Ashes in 2010/2011 after a series this year [...] Spiro Zavos: Two more years for chairman Hilditch? Amazing!](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/Two-more-years-for-Hilditch.jpg)
![When Martyn Williams placed the ball for Cardiff’s seventh and fatal kick in the penalty shoot-out to decide the winner of the Heineken Cup semi-final, the unctuous television commentator rabbited on about how ‘professional’ he was, and unlikely to miskick.
But how tragic it would be for him if he did.
Williams then proceeded to duff-hook his [...] Spiro Zavos: Rugby’s penalty shoot-out is a real winner](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/rugby-penalty-shoot-out-scott-hamilton-th.jpg)



