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Australia hotshot Phillip Hughes returned home from his controversial six-week stint with Middlesex today and said he could not wait to get right back on the plane to England for his first Ashes series.
The 20-year-old scored four hundreds in all forms of the game since joining the county, enhancing his reputation as one of the world's best young players. It was his first taste of cricket in England and the experience has whetted his appetite for Australia's defence of the Ashes, which begins on 8 July in Cardiff.
“I thoroughly enjoyed it and the preparation has been great to be honest,” said Hughes in Sydney. “I think the big thing that came out of it was that I played at three Test grounds I'm going to be playing on and got to experience them before this big series.
“Lord's was obviously my home ground for Middlesex and I played at the Oval and Edgbaston as well. It couldn't have worked out any better.
“The big thing was just going over there to experience the whole different culture really, the weather, the wickets and the bowlers.”
Hughes's performances look to have vindicated English fears that a spell on the county circuit could only improve him while Aussie captain Ricky Ponting has even taunted England by claiming they would be “dreading” Middlesex's decision to make the signing.
The dashing left-hander's display here came after an astonishing tour of South Africa. Following a four-ball duck in his debut innings at Johannesburg, he scored 75 in the next innings then twin centuries in the Second Test at Durban to finish the series with 415 runs at an average of 69.16.
While he also plundered the English county attacks, Hughes is not worried by the fact England's Test bowlers had been given a good look at him.
“The thing was I wanted to spend as much time as I could in the middle,” he said. “I wanted to help guys around me win and I did that.
“I just wanted to contribute in that way, so it doesn't matter about those guys seeing me bat in the middle.”
Ravi Bopara, though, thinks differntly. “I am sure he has strong areas and weak areas,” said the Essex man, who has cemented his place as England's No3 for the Ashes after scoring three centuries in his last three Test innings.
“His being in England has allowed people to have a little look at him which is an advantage for us. We will get the reports back from the counties and we can find out where he is strong and where he is weak.”
Bopara is expected to open the batting for England in Sunday's second one-day international against West Indies, after the first match of the
NatWest Series was washed out at Headingley yesterday. Although England will play only limited-overs cricket between now and the Ashes, Bopara believes the form he shows during these matches and in the World Twenty20 will have a bearing on how he performs against Australia.
Speaking at an npower Urban Cricket facility in Manchester, which helps turn disused areas of park land into places where children can learn to play cricket, Bopara added: “It is important for me to keep going and the only way I can do that is by playing well in the NatWest Series and the World Twenty20.
“In this series, it's important we get off to a good start and the idea of opening the batting is a challenge I love. In English conditions, though, you need to be a bit more cautious at the start of an innings than in other countries.”
