Opener Hughes on course for Lankan tour selection

Wednesday, 20 July 2011 00:32 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Sydney, July 18 (ANI) - Australian and New South Wales opener Phillip Hughes century for Australia A at the weekend in Zimbabwe, has taken his recent record to an extraordinary four centuries in six innings, and he has scored 93 and 27 in the other two.

With Australia's Test squad to be selected for the tour of Sri Lanka round the corner, Hughes has seemingly surged from the most likely casualty to the least, according to a report in The Age.

He has scored 400 runs in his last four innings of the domestic season, including a century in the Sheffield Shield final.

Hughes was rushed to Zimbabwe for the final of the 50-over tri-series involving Zimbabwe and South Africa A, due to a tour-ending injury to his NSW teammate Nic Maddinson, and he produced a run-a-ball 138.

His latest innings, a patient 125 from 204 deliveries in Harare in the first of Australia A's two four-day matches against Zimbabwe, was made in front of full-time selector Greg Chappell.

Australia A coach Troy Cooley, who was with the national team during Hughes's Ashes struggles, said the diminutive opener was now looking much more comfortable against short-pitched pace bowling, widely considered to be his biggest weakness.

“He's basically got that confidence of going in and trusting his game at the next level. He's obviously been tested and he's found that his game will survive. He's back doing all the good things he's done before,” Cooley said yesterday.