Phil Hughes leaves Test talk to his bat
Phil Hughes will keep letting his bat do his talking as he presses for a Test cricket recall.
Opening batsman Hughes is putting plenty of pressure on Australian team incumbent Ed Cowan with sparkling early season form ahead of the three-Test series against world No.1 South Africa starting on November 9.
Hughes is the third-highest run-scorer in the Sheffield Shield, and only one batsman has scored more domestic one-day runs this season.
The left-hander has another chance to press his Test claims when his adopted state South Australia host Queensland in a Shield match in Adelaide from Tuesday, while Cowan needs runs for Tasmania against Victoria in their match at the MCG starting the same day.
Hughes, who cracked an unbeaten 95 against the Bulls in Sunday’s one-dayer, was axed from the Test side last December and replaced by Cowan but the early domestic form of the left-handed pair this season is in stark contrast.
In the Shield, Hughes has made 218 Shield runs at an average of 54.50; Cowan 60 runs at 20.00 – 36th on the run-scorer’s list.
In the one-day format, Hughes has scored 132 runs and been dismissed just once while Cowan made 13 in his sole appearance for Tasmania.
But Hughes was quick to deflect questions about whether Australian selectors should be taking notice of his form surge and was more concerned with helping struggling SA get their season back on track.
“I just want to score as many runs as I can for South Australia,” he said.
“I really want to be the most consistent batsman I can be and score as many runs as I can across all formats.”
Cowan appears likely to be given first chance as David Warner’s opening partner in the Test series against the Proteas, after making 55 in his most recent Test knock against the West Indies last April.
But the half-century was only the third time Cowan has passed 35 in his 12 Test innings, which have returned 358 runs at 29.83.
And Hughes, who has scored three tons and three half-centuries in his 17 Tests, maintains publicly that Tuesday’s Shield game holds more significance for SA than himself.
The Redbacks have been trounced in their opening two Shield games as their winless streak in four-day cricket extends to 18 matches – their last win was in November 2010.
A thumping innings defeat to Tasmania prompted Redbacks coach Darren Berry to publicly apologise, with Hughes saying a response against Queensland was imperative for SA.
“It has been a little bit of a tough start and we’re not hiding away from that fact,” Hughes said.
“But we know there is a lot of cricket to be played this season and come Tuesday our confidence will be high.”
© AAP 2013The Crowd Says (19) | Page 1 of Comments
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October 23rd 2012 @ 6:10am
Frankie Hughes said | October 23rd 2012 @ 6:10am | Report comment
Phillip Hughes will be back sooner rather than later.
Cowan is an average batsman and will be sorted out by the South African pace attack.
October 23rd 2012 @ 8:23am
jameswm said | October 23rd 2012 @ 8:23am | Report comment
Ah the relos come in! Shouldn’t denigrate cousin Phil’s rivals though.
Learn from Phil, who is letting his bat do the talking.
October 23rd 2012 @ 9:14am
Dan said | October 23rd 2012 @ 9:14am | Report comment
Whilst he has scored afew runs and improved his deficiencies slightly hughes to me still looks ordinary at the crease. He is still very jumpy and plays away from his body way too much for an opener in the first ten overs. He gets in bizarre positions almost on his knees for some shots, just all over the place to be honest. I realise runs are a batsmens currency and you “don’t have to draw pictures” but I think the south Africans would find Hughes out quite easily in the first few overs at Brisbane and Perth especially. Cowan for me.
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October 23rd 2012 @ 9:22am
Disco said | October 23rd 2012 @ 9:22am | Report comment
Unless Hughes has improved his technique dramatically, I just don’t see him surviving the new ball very often against high-quality seam bowling.
October 23rd 2012 @ 11:40am
jameswm said | October 23rd 2012 @ 11:40am | Report comment
He’s improved on what I’ve seen.
Is it enough? We don’t know yet. But if he scores like this all season he’ll be hard to keep out.
October 23rd 2012 @ 9:22am
Pope Paul VII said | October 23rd 2012 @ 9:22am | Report comment
The descriptions of Hughes being as jumpy as a cat reminds me of England’s Graeme Fowler in the 80s. All over the shop but gutsy,cheeky and effective. Just thought I’d through that in. Anyway, at some point Hughes will be back, he’s more than handy and got a long career ahead of him.
Hughes has his favourite teams here also. If things go badly early this summer he’s sure to get a run sooner rather than later.
October 23rd 2012 @ 11:02am
Bearfax said | October 23rd 2012 @ 11:02am | Report comment
Hughes, and to a lesser extent Khawaja and Burns are on the way back. Hughes in particular has been very impressive since he returned to Oz and apparently he has done much to correct his batting flaw. Sure so far its been in the shorter form of the game but I can sense a champion is about to re-emerge. Khawaja and Burns are doing well, but need to stick around in games longer. They are however the only batsmen so far doing anything in Queensland.
Personally, I think Hughes will be back in the Australian side later this summer and Khawaja and Burns are in the mix to take one of the middle order positions that I suspect will become available a bit later on. And thank goodness for Oz cricket that these three on coming through, because the others Micky has been experimenting with have been either average at best or dismal failures..
October 23rd 2012 @ 11:41am
jameswm said | October 23rd 2012 @ 11:41am | Report comment
Cosgrove has been good this season…
October 23rd 2012 @ 11:37am
Mark T said | October 23rd 2012 @ 11:37am | Report comment
Don’t forget Hughes’ batting record against South Africa, a team which is widely considered to have one of the best test bowling attacks in international cricket. In saying that, I think that Hughes was right to be dropped a year ago and has improved tremendously in the last 1 year. This is not just a couple of 90′s and 80′s for South Australia that we are talking about. He was prolific for Worcestershire in England scoring runs in OD cricket at an average of 100 and strike rate of 90 (which is Bradmanesque) and scoring runs in T20 cricket at an average of 87 and a strike rate of 117. His first class batting form has not been as prolific where he averaged 35 for Worcestershire but there’re signs that he is playing extremely well and I’m pretty confident he will do well in first class cricket for South Australia and improve his average.
At the end of the day, Hughes’ is better than any of the other batsmen in the next tier. Forrest scored 3 centuries for Queensland and has been earmarked despite an OD batting average of 24 and a first class batting average of 32. Hughes scored two near-centuries for Queensland just the other day in a single test. Ed Cowan averages less than his age in test cricket and hasn’t scored any centuries. David Hussey is a top quality batsmen but other than him Hughes’ has banged the door down the most. So, purely on consistency of selection and current form, Hughes is the most deserving batsmen in Australia cricket who is not in the international team.
The other point I’d like to make is to people who think Hughes has already received too many chances. You’re right. But people are at the prime of their career at the age of 30 and Hughes’ performances were at the ages 20 – 22. So it doesn’t make sense to say that we’ve seen the best of him. We need to give him time and more chances and I think he’s definitely done well in some of his games at international level so there’re signs that if he improves his consistency he can become great.
October 23rd 2012 @ 2:23pm
Brian said | October 23rd 2012 @ 2:23pm | Report comment
Hughes will come back at some stage, he has too much talent but I am not sure he is ready. I also question why as a top 3 batsman preparing yourself for a return to Test Cricket you would choose to play at the Adelaide Oval. Runs against Shield opening bowlers at Pert or Brisbane would have been better for mine
October 23rd 2012 @ 6:55pm
Jason said | October 23rd 2012 @ 6:55pm | Report comment
Today’s scores:
Hughes 8
Cowan 42
October 23rd 2012 @ 8:07pm
Frankie Hughes said | October 23rd 2012 @ 8:07pm | Report comment
Hughes 226 Shield runs @ 45, with 2 half centuries
Cowan102 Shield runs @ 25 with 0 half centuries
October 23rd 2012 @ 10:47pm
Bearfax said | October 23rd 2012 @ 10:47pm | Report comment
And Hughes dismissal was very shonky indeed. Should never have been given out. Meanwhile Cowan took a lifetime to reach his score.
October 24th 2012 @ 8:45am
Frankie Hughes said | October 24th 2012 @ 8:45am | Report comment
Certain people on here just want to write Phil off.
Unfortunately for them, he’s too talented to just disappear.
October 24th 2012 @ 12:46pm
Jason said | October 24th 2012 @ 12:46pm | Report comment
Why is an opener taking a lifetime to reach 42 on the first day of a match a bad thing?
I’ll take the guy with less talent but who values his wicket and is willing to learn from his mistakes any day.
October 24th 2012 @ 1:39pm
Timmuh said | October 24th 2012 @ 1:39pm | Report comment
There is nothing wrong with taking time to score runs in first class cricket. With the brittle nature of the Australian middle order, a slow 40 may be worth more than a rapid 60 as coming in an hour later may allow the middle order to score some runs rather than fold.
Hughes should be back at some point, but he needs to show he needs to show that he has overcome – or at least greatly reduced – the weakness that saw him dropped, as well as score a lot of runs.
October 24th 2012 @ 2:57pm
Bearfax said | October 24th 2012 @ 2:57pm | Report comment
The aim is to win the game, not to draw it. At his pace we would barely get through the first innings. Being very slow puts pressure on other batsmen to feel that they need to score quickly and therefore take greater risks. It is because of the brittle nature of the Australian side at present that you need a formidable presence opening. Hughes has the makings of a formidable opener, Cowan doesnt. Cowan is a good shield player but against the World’s best bowling, he struggles badly. And he doesnt have a batting technique we should be looking to correct and yet his test average is less than Hughes, who had a batting style said to need addressing , and less than Warner. Go figure.
October 24th 2012 @ 9:35am
Bearfax said | October 24th 2012 @ 9:35am | Report comment
Cosgrove has always been a good batsman and is one of the few at the moment outside of the test team who truly warrant consideration. But Cosgrove’s problem has always involved his fitness. Sure he has a very good batting average and a strong arm, but he’s a bit slow around the field and I think this alone has discouraged selectors from choosing him. But he would do a better job than most of the platers they have been picking of late. Add to that his age and I suspect his time has past.
No I would stick with the young group coming through such as Hughes, Khawaja and Burns
October 25th 2012 @ 12:57pm
Jon Price said | October 25th 2012 @ 12:57pm | Report comment
I watched Cosgrove and two other Tassie players all sprint for the ball as it went to the outfield.
Surprisingly, Cosgrove was the quickest over the turf.