It seems just like yesterday (although it was several years ago) that I wandered down to the blessed SCG to see Phil Hughes play his first first class innings for NSW.
What I saw that day convinced me and still does, despite all the tribulations with the bat he has endured since then, that here was a superstar batsman in the making.
Hughes presented as a smallish (the build of most great batsmen), tough-minded player with an eccentric technique that virtually prevented him from scoring runs on the leg side. But his eye was as keen as an eagle’s.
He had a very quick bat speed. He hit the ball, especially behind point with tremendous power.
And he had great powers of concentration which he demonstrated by batting for a couple of hours on a difficult pitch against a strong Tasmanian attack led by Ben Hilfenhaus.
As his career developed he showed another characteristic that is the mark of potentially great batsmen, the ability to score 100s. In his short career, at the age of 24, he has already scored 20 centuries. No one of the same age currently in Australian cricket right now comes anywhere near close to this record.
And in general, he has scored these runs relatively quickly.
This is an important point. I’ve been critical of Ed Cowan in that he is a slow scorer who does not go on to make huge scores. The object of the batsmen in Test sides must be to score enough runs to leave their bowlers time to bowl out the opposition twice.
Slow scorers have to ensure they score so massively that a second batting innings of any great length isn’t necessary.
Alistair Cook does this. But Cowan, with one exception, hasn’t yet converted his starts in Tests hundreds that provide the impetus for victories.
I believe this is why Ian Chappell, a proponent of the ‘get-on-with-it’ way of batting, has opted for a David Warner-Shane Watson opening pair.
For the Hobart Test, I’d like to see an Australian batting order lining up in this way: Cowan, Hughes, Warner, Watson, Clarke and Hussey. Warner seems to me to be a natural number three, a sort of Neil Harvey dasher, who can take on the new ball if necessary or the spinners if there is a strong opening stand.
Interestingly, Cowan and Hughes have about the same Test batting average. Cowan averages 34.47 after 10 Tests: Hughes averages 34.58 after 17 Tests. I have the feeling though that Hughes can improve on his average and Cowan will struggle to get his much above what it currently stands at.
It is one of the fascinating stories of Test cricket that Hughes burst into that arena (with 75 on debut against South Africa at the Wanderers) with a couple of blazing centuries. After seven Tests, he was averaging 51.25. Tests against England exposed a terminal weakness to a lifting ball on the off stump line.
Last season when Hughes was brought back into the Test team for the third time, a lively New Zealand seam attack exposed this fatal weakness once again.
Hughes was written off by most of the experts and most of the readers of The Roar. But to his credit, he eschewed the big money in Twenty20 cricket (where he has an average of over 50!) and went away and with his first coach and mentor Neil D’Costa rebuilt his batting method.
With the new method he scored a pile of runs in England in all forms of cricket there. This season in Australia he has scored a huge number of runs in Shield cricket, as well as a stunning 74 off 48 balls for the Adelaide Strikers against the Perth Scorchers at the WACA Ground last Sunday.
I watched this innings closely to get a sense what changes Hughes and D’Costa had made to his batting style.
It seems to me that three minor but important adjustments have been made.
First, he has opened up his stance slightly. This adjustment has, in turn, opened up the leg side on his scoring chart. Where he hardly scored a run on the leg side with the old style, he now scores about 30 percent of his runs on the leg side.
Second, he moves across his stump as fast bowlers deliver the ball. This helps to get him behind the lifting deliveries and helps cut back on the knicks to the wicket-keeper and the slips, while allowing him to crash boundaries with his trade mark slash back of point.
Third, he gets his bat in the lift position with his hands quite close to his chest, a method recommended by Greg Chappell a long time ago and by experts who have analysed Sir Donald Bradman’s method of batting.
The early lift has allowed Hughes to pull the ball, a shot he never used to play but which he brought off at the WACA Ground to great effect.
Despite his former eccentric (to put it gently) method, Hughes scored 1072 runs in 17 Tests. At the same age, 24, after 17 Tests Allan Border had scored 1260 runs. But Steve Waugh after 17 Tests had scored 656 runs. And Ricky Ponting after 17 Tests had scored 1027 runs.
D’Costa reckons that Hughes has the ability and the time to score 10,000 Test runs, statistics that will make him a cricket great.
I’m with D’Costa on this. It would be a great thing for Australian cricket if this prediction is ultimately proven to be correct.
marees
Roar Rookie
wow! Spiro. Great tip that - hold your hands close to your chest on the backlift. I always played away from my body and wondered why? Wish somebody had given me this tip 20 years earlier :-)
Arthur Fonzarelli
Guest
The original dropping of Hughes was the greatest injustice ever perpetrated by Australian selectors. He was averaging 52 a the time. The guy is a freak talent in the highest echelon. Yes he looks awkward at times but I will bet Baghdad to a banana that he will end up with 10000 test runs, as long as the selectors leave him in the team and give him at least 10-15 tests to settle in to international cricket.
Arthur Fonzarelli
Guest
Scored a hundred in each innings away against Steyn Morkel et al isnt a bad item on the CV.
Bearfax
Guest
Hughes just out for 86. The dream is becoming more real. Warner 57, Watson 30, Cowen 4
Bearfax
Guest
Maybe a dream. But its based on fairly firm background information. He may not make it and I grant that. But I suspect he will and potentially match Hayden. But its all hypothetical at this stage and you are right....we're at this stage probably just dreaming.
ANON69
Guest
Dream.
Bearfax
Guest
Always unwise to predict too much about any player. But Hughes has that demeanour and style of batting that suggests to me that he will be up there with the Clarkes, Chappells, Walters, maybe even Hayden and Ponting. There's something tough and disciplined about this fellow and he seems to have strong self belief and that is a lot of the battle. I suspect he will be the best batsman of the next generation but then you never know what's coming around the corner and Australia had a few brilliant youngsters in the recent junior World Cup, who might very well join him in a few years. But I like the style of Hughes and at gut feeling level I think we have something special. I just hope my gut is a good prognosticator.
dcnz
Guest
i thought everyone learnt the first time round not to hype up Phil Hughes. He secured acres of press coverage when he first burst through, with endless profiles in the newspapers, declaring him as the new Bradman.
Frankie Hughes
Guest
Phillip Hughes is world class and will go on to score 10,000+ Test runs. If a wild slogger like Warner can score Test Hundreds/runs then Phil's certainly gonna score loads of runs.
Rhys
Guest
Cameron, I rate Langer one of my all time favourite players. It took him the best part of a decade to find his best place in the batting order (after a lengthy stint at #3), but like his partner in crime Hayden, JL made it count when he did find his batting groove. If Hughes can emulate the career of either Langer or Hayden then he'll put a smile on Aussie cricket supporters everywhere.
Rhys
Guest
Larry always had the best hairstyles too. Don't think I ever saw him wear a helmet, but then few of the 80s era West Indians did.
tommy
Guest
I heard an interestnig quote on Hughes the other day but I can't remember who from.. "He can construct an innings but he can't construct a stroke." Very interesting & relatively accurate but I don't actually think this is a problem because I think that contructing an innings is somethig that you are born with. You can be taught to play strokes but you can't be taught how to contruct an innigs as this is more about temperment. I think 20 first class centuries at the age of 24 is proof of a great temperment & lets just hope he has learned how to construct strokes in the last 12 months! You could argue that having only scoring 2 test hundreds, the reverse could be said of Shane Watson.
TheGenuineTailender
Roar Guru
Whatever it is you're taking, I want some.
The no. three.
Guest
I'll just ask J Anderson, S Broad , C Tremlett, D Steyn, or even C Martin if they have their stats on Phil against them, they can look in their scapbooks. Maybe M Prior M Boucher, or B McCullum might have your answer
Justin Lemmon
Guest
"With the new method he scored a pile of runs in England in all forms of cricket there. This season in Australia he has scored a huge number of runs in Shield cricket, as well as a stunning 74 off 48 balls for the Adelaide Strikers against the Perth Scorchers at the WACA Ground last Sunday." Funny you haven't listed the actual stats, perhaps because they aren't that impressive? Averaged 35 in England and 50 over here with only one ton...
The no. three.
Guest
Oh Spiro, there's more chance of you changing your name to Craig Smith, than Phil becoming a great batsman. He is no Alastair Cook. He is too short to handle high rising, swinging fast bowling which is accurate. Phi'sl proved that.
Mark T
Guest
I think you're right and I think Hughes is a real inspiration to the young people in Australia. Choose your goals and work as hard as possible to achieve them. I haven't met Hughes (though I would love to do so one day) but I'd imagine that he'd be like you described given what I've seen of him in interviews. I've been following his career for the last 3.5 years. I hadn't watched cricket for a couple of years and tuned in for the first time in a long time to watch The Ashes on the SBS and I noticed a 20 year old who averages 66 in test cricket and 62 in first class cricket and that really impressed me. Since then I expected to see him achieve great things but obviously he got dropped in the Ashes and I was bitterly disappointed. I was rooting for him since then following pretty much all his games (domestic and international) and it was clear that he kept scoring hundreds. I refused for a long time to believe that he had technical problems. I always maintained that he scored runs against the South Africa XI and so he couldn't have such problems. However, in the hindsight of seeing his game recently, I have to say that he's a much improved player and credit to him for that. However, if his technique was so rusty and he was averaging in the 60's, then I actually want to put in the ball in the court and say he will have a close to Bradmenesque career with his refined technique.I actually believe he can average very close to 100. Call me optimistic but I think he can do it. Whatever the case I really hope he does well against Sri Lanka and I believe he can do it. It would be a fine reward for the person and player he is today.
Neuen
Roar Rookie
Thanks for that info. But I was actually just referrung to where it is written on a piece of paper basically. As we all know no 1 or 2 is still the openers and will not really have a effect on your batting as both will face a fresh bowler. But you get superstition freaks who will hang upside from the ceiling or polish their left toe nail or whatever.
Brett McKay
Expert
"Warner seems to me to be a natural number three" I'm pretty content feeling unnatural about Warner, if this is the case, Spiro....
Ryan O'Connell
Expert
I think the less said about his stint as batting coach, the better.