Sydney, Januay 11:Former skipper Steve Waugh has endorsed embattled opener Phil Hughes as a ”long-term Test player” and offered to work with the youngster to help overcome his technical problems.
Waugh believes Hughes, who was disappointing when he replaced the injured Simon Katich for the Melbourne and Sydney Ashes Tests, posting scores of 16, 23, 31 and 13, could form an integral part of the Test team in the future, alongside fellow young gun Usman Khawaja.
”I feel a little bit sorry for Phil,” Waugh was quoted as saying by ‘The Australian’.
”He got dropped when he was in form. He got two hundreds, against the toughest attack on their home turf and two Tests later he’s dropped. And then they picked him out of form.,” said he.
”I am glad he got picked again, but he just was not in form when he came in. He’s a long-term player for Australia and we need to show faith in him.” Waugh said he had experienced similar problems when he came into the Test team in 1985 and had fine-tuned his technique — just as Hughes needed to do.
”Hughes does not need to change a lot. He’s got Justin Langer helping him now and I’m happy to talk to him. But at the end of the day, he’s got to play pretty much the same way he played to get into the side,” the former skipper said. ”I’ve already talked to him and a lot of the young players. Definitely happy to work with him.”
——–UNI