Phillip Hughes - Australian International Career

Australian International Career

After consistently making runs at domestic level, Hughes was called up to replace Matthew Hayden on Australia's tour of South Africa in February and March 2009. He was selected to make his debut in the first Test match starting on 26 February 2009 at the New Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg after making 53, then retiring, in Australia's tour match against the South African Board President's XI. He was dismissed for a duck in his first Test innings by Dale Steyn off just the fourth ball of the match, however he went on to top-score with 75 in the second innings, including 11 fours and a six.

Hughes hit his maiden Test hundred in the first innings of the second Test at the Sahara Stadium, Kingsmead, Durban on 6 March 2009, before adding another hundred in the second Innings. In doing so, Hughes, at the age of 20 years and 96 days, became both the youngest Australian since Doug Walters to score a Test century, and the youngest player from any country to score a century in both innings of a Test match.

During the 2009 Ashes campaign, Hughes' unorthodox technique was exploited by fast bowlers, who targeted his upper body, and avoided bowling wide outside off stump, restricting his opportunities to play shots through the offside, most notably the cut shot. He was dropped from the team, for the third Edgbaston Test in favour of Shane Watson, who opened the batting in his place and provided the Australians with an extra bowling option.

He was a fringe player for the next year or so, playing some Tests to cover other injured batsmen. He played two home Tests against Pakistan in this capacity, covering the injured Ricky Ponting in the Boxing Day Test, then Simon Katich in the New Year's Test. He was then called up to the Test squad for the tour of New Zealand in March 2010 to replace Shane Watson in the first Test; he scored a rapid 86 from 75 balls in a small fourth-innings run chase in this Test.

Hughes was dropped from the 2010–2011 Ashes squad, but was called up for the Third Test as a replacement for the injured Simon Katich. He was a regular in the Australian team for the following year, playing in the last three Ashes tests, tours of Sri Lanka and South Africa, and then a home series against New Zealand, but his spot came under pressure due to his inconsistency during that time. He scored two big scores (126 in Colombo and 88 in Johannesburg), but his next-highest score was only 36, and he consistently fell to catches at slip and gully. He was heavily criticised for his performance in the two-test series against New Zealand, in which he managed only 41 runs at 10.25, and was dismissed exactly the same way in all four innings: caught at slip by Martin Guptill from the bowling of Chris Martin. He was dropped from the Australian team following the series.

In a stint to Worcestershire for the English County Cricket competition, Hughes made adjustments to his much maligned technique resulting in a more expansive range of strokes with more emphasis on legside play. Upon return to Australia, Hughes left his home state of New South Wales, moving to South Australia. This resulted in a strong return of runs in first class cricket in the Sheffield Shield and one day cricket in the Ryobi Cup. These returns earned Hughes a recall to the Australian Test team to face Sri Lanka in Hobart following the retirement of Ricky Ponting in December, 2012. He made an impressive first inning 86 batting at number 3.

After almost a year away from the test arena, Hughes found himself back in the test side for the series against Sri Lanka in lieu of the retiring Ricky Ponting, occupying the no 3 position over Watson. Immediately he made an impact, scoring a solid 86 in the first test match at Hobart, with a new-found confidence and tighter technique that had eluded him 12 months prior. He made 2 half centuries during his comeback scoring 233 runs at 46.60 in what was the most successful stint at the no 3 spot that the Australians had seen for some time. Hughes is set to receive a $1 million contract with Cricket Australia and be selected in Australia's ODI and T20 international squads in the wake of Michael Hussey's shock international retirement at the end of the 2012/13 Australia summer. The selection of Hughes in the Australian ODI squad was confirmed on 6 January 2013. National selection boss John Inverarity noted that players such as Hughes were included with an eye to the 2015 World Cup, suggesting that he was viewed as a long-term player for Australia in all three forms of the game.

He made his mark with a solid 112 (from 129 balls) in his ODI debut, becoming the first Australian to reach a century on debut. He opened the innings with Aaron Finch at Melbourne, and added an 140-run 3rd wicket partnership with captain George Bailey, before being dismissed by Lasith Malinga. Since, Hughes made his 2nd ODI match - winning century with 138 (n.o) off just 154 balls in the fifth and final ODI.

Following a successful summer in Australia in 2012/2013, Hughes was selected to play in India. Hughes struggled in the first two tests scoring only 25 runs in 4 innings.