Australian opener Phil Hughes belongs to that generation of players who were exposed to all three formats of the game fairly early on, and have little difficulty in switching, and switching successfully, between them.
Addressing the media after a training session during the day, the New South Wales Blues opener spoke about his recent tour of Sri Lanka, where his battling hundred in the last Test helped Australia take the series, and the confidence that it provided him with, coming into the Champions League T20.
Hughes, 22, said the greatest challenge was in trying to play his natural aggressive game in conditions that were alien and in a match situation that demanded caution.
“(In the third Test) we had to graft because we lost a couple of early wickets. It was tough, it was turning, but I knew I had to play my natural game. You had to play time, but in the same breath, you don't change how you play,” he said.
First-ball duck
Hughes made a first-ball duck on Test debut against South Africa, but went on to score 75 in the next innings, before becoming the youngest ever batsman to score two centuries in a Test in his second game.
His form slipped subsequently and Hughes had to wait two and a half years to add to the tally, time which was spent largely in the nets.
“I would love to know what went wrong. Scoring two centuries and coming into the Australian side at 20, all happened too fast. I was not in the side for two and a half years and I was just getting the odd game and so it was tough.
“Now I feel part of the team. Great to get that third century off my back, it was two and a half years in the making.”
