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This time Phil Hughes is in no hurry to rocket to the top of Test cricket. Hughes’ debut in 2009 as a 20-year-old was accompanied by a whirlwind of expectation, on and off the field.
The high life, typified by the ringside seat at Anthony Mundine’s fights, was meant to accompany the high scores.
Almost four years later, it’s the higher level of maturity that Hughes is banking on with his new team South Australia.
The maiden domestic one-day hundred he made on Tuesday night against Tasmania at Bellerive, on top of a stack of big scores already this season, showed it is paying off.
“There’s never a rush, I feel,” says Hughes, who in his second Test became the youngest player to score centuries in both innings.
“It’s about taking it a day at a time.
“I’ve got age on my side. I’m still 23 – a lot of years ahead of me hopefully.
“I don’t want to look too far ahead. It’s about being patient really and taking it day-in day-out.”
The former New South Welshman spent the Australian winter honing his technique with English side Worcestershire following his latest axing from the Test side last summer.
It had come after he’d infamously nicked New Zealand pacemen Chris Martin to slip Martin Guptill in all four innings of the two-Test series against the Black Caps.
“As a top order batsman, you’re going to nick off a few times,” he says.
“I’ve opened my leg-side play up hugely and put that into practice in county cricket.
“But I think the great players – Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke, these type of guys – once they get in, they get really big scores.
“Going forward as a batsman, that’s what I really want to do.
“If I get in, I want to make these big scores.”
Hughes’ captain at the Redbacks, experienced South African Johan Botha, says the talented left-hander should just be allowed to play.
Botha compares him to Proteas star Hashim Amla.
“(Amla’s) changed it very slightly and now he’s one of the best in the world,” Botha says.
“I think Hughes is the same.
“I think the answer’s just let him play.
“He will get out sometimes, we all get out, but he is only 23.
“Everyone’s worried about his technique and so on but he’s just worried about the amount of runs and that’s the key.
“I think he’ll definitely be back in the future.”
Hughes says making more runs is enough for him at this stage of his career.
“I want to continue this form,” he says.
“I suppose confidence is high so I want to continue it.”
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