While all the discussion surrounds who will bat at number
six at the GABBA, the second opener slot also remains equally contentious.
Although Warner opened in the last Test match, he since has been dropped for
the ODI series of India and has been involved in yet another ill discipline
act. It means the door is still open for Phil Hughes.
Selectors have already stated, current ODI series in India
will be selection criteria when the team is picked for 1st Ashes
Test. Hughes has a golden opportunity to prove his worth especially as an
opener, a position in which Hughes averages higher than any other position he
has batted for Australia in his 49 Test innings.
The day after the match Hughes was quick to admit he is
simply taking it one game at time and feeling relaxed after an extensive period
on the sidelines. “I suppose last few months
I have been on the sidelines and just helping the boys been the 12th
or 13th man, it’s just nice to get out there and play some
cricket. I’m just relaxed and like the
way things are going, take it a day at a time and not look too far ahead”.
Hughes returned to customary opening position scoring 47
from 53 to provide an early impetus to the Australian innings. Asked if he has always preferred to open the
batting, Hughes stated he was prepared to bat anywhere. Although Hughes had
spent most of junior days and his initial phase In the Australian team as an
opener “Coming through the juniors I’ve always batted at the top but over the
past 6-12 months I been in different positions”
In the last 17 innings Hughes has batted in 4 different
positions and has been made a scapegoat for Watson and Warner’s to open the
batting. Fact of the matter is Hughes
averages 36 as an opener and 28 in the other positions he has batted for
Australia. On his day, Hughes can be
equally as devastating as an opener but seems to struggle when he has to start
against spin.
In his 49 innings in Test cricket, Hughes has been a victim
to spinners on 18 occasions that is nearly 40 per cent. It is a game he has been working hard on
given the time he has spent on the sub-continent, the home of spinning tracks
and spinners.
“It is a learning curve and it’s about having the right
things in the memory bank and looking to improve with each performance. The ODI
wickets are quite different, the test wickets were turning quite a lot to be fair”
Hughes has really struggled to rotate strike against
spinners and it will be baffling for the selectors to bat him in the middle order
and expose him to Swann. Although the
ODI series will present Hughes an opportunity to face the new ball and then learn
to manipulate the ball into gaps once the spinners are introduced in the middle
over’s.
If Hughes can score abundance of runs in India as an opener,
a position in which he averages better than Warner he could well be opening
with Chris Rogers in Brisbane.
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