Twenty20 cricket has become cricket’s version of the ‘yellow peril’ as Australia reacts to a string of poor batting performances at Test level.
Poor techniques, as a result of Twenty20 cricket, rather than father time and a lack of confidence, have been blamed as the core reason behind Australia’s struggle to back up an ever improving bowling line-up.
ODI cricket became a license to print money in the epoch that took in the breakaway World Series Cricket concept and with the glut of limited overs internationals that followed, came the chorus of disapproval.
Bat poorly at Test level and it was a result of too much ‘slogging’ in the one-day game. The negative effect of limited overs cricket on Test batsman was a myth and one that has resurfaced in an era where administrators are making large scheduling concessions to fit in more and more Twenty20 cricket.
Much has been made of the fact that Phil Hughes will be dropped and won’t get a chance to play a first-class match until February, but after a string of similar dismissals and a perceived lack of confidence in his own ability to play at the highest level, it should take more than one or two Shield innings for Hughes to regain his place.
In fact, I’d argue Hughes is at least a summer or two away from coming back and much like Matthew Hayden in the mid 90s, he would need to score thousands of runs at first-class level before he gets considered again.
The issues Phil Hughes has at Test level have nothing to do with Twenty20 cricket and he finds himself in a similar predicament to that of David Boon at an identical stage of his career.
Worked over by the Englishmen in 1986-87, David Boon found himself out of a struggling Australian side. Boon’s problem wasn’t playing too much one-day cricket on flat pitches, it was that like Phil Hughes he kept dangling the bat outside off stump while playing defensive shots.
Unlike Boon though, Hughes doesn’t score freely off his pads and if he is to restrain from playing through the gully area as some wish him to do, then where will his runs come from?
Ricky Ponting and Michael Hussey are the other, underperforming top-order batsmen and it would be nonsensical to suggest that Twenty20 cricket has anything to do with their current struggles.
David Warner is a Twenty20 star and it would seem that he has the temperament, if not the perfect technique, to succeed at Test level.
Twenty20 cricket has given him the opportunity to play in front of large crowds and experience the furnace, like the off-field pressure that comes with playing international cricket.
On the other hand, Phil Hughes hasn’t played a lot of limited overs or Twenty20 cricket at domestic level, let alone international level, which means that at this stage in his career there is no in-between the relative obscurity of New South Wales Shield player and Australian Test opener.
The Big Bash may be just what Phil Hughes needs, the freedom to play shots, improve his fielding and all not too far removed from ‘Broadway’.
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