Was watching the start of the Aussie 2nd innings yesterday and was quite surprised by how Harmison was really giving it to Phil Hughes with the short stuff.
I hadn’t watched him play before but, from what I’d read, he was supposed to be the next Sir Don with his crazy run scoring against SA as well as for Middlesex. I did notice the fact that he was scoring centuries for fun across 2 formats, so I was quite impressed.
However, what I say yesterday was surprising. I mean, here’s Harmison, stuffing it to him with the short balls. Why didn’t anyone else in the county circuit or SA think about this?
He clearly doesn’t have a leg-side game and it’s quite shocking! It’s like how I can’t play table-tennis with my forehand! There’s only so far that you can go by being able to play on only one side. I did come a cropper when coming to SL, the table tennis players at the school here being much better than what I’d encountered in ‘the foreign land’.
The worst part is that the Ashes is definitely no place to start testing out things. It’s like asking a private to try out different styles of shooting the enemy while he’s on the battlefield.
However, England should not get over-obsessed with Hughes because Katich seems to be silently accumulating runs. Add to that North, Hussey, Clarke and Johnson, and you have a formidable line-up..
Coming to SL cricket, the Summer of Cricket starts with the first day of the first test against Pakistan at Galle. The next 80 days promises to be really cool with 5 tests, 12 ODIs and 3 T20Is in store, so, BRING IT ON!
Off Cutter 
Actually Steyn and company tried this tactic of short pitch stuff but the mistakes they did wereSteyn is more of a skiddy customer so, it would have been better if he had pitched it up and got it to swing. One has to notice the fact that Hughes likes room but does not necessarily come on the front foot so he should have mainly pitched it up as it is Steyn's strength.Morne Morkel the tall bowler from SA was the perfect bowler for Hughes because of the bounce he would get from a good length but in trying short pitch stuff he gave too much room and Hughes smashed him. Short pitch stuff can be a double edge sword to Hughes as if a bowler gets it slightly wrong it is easy for Hughes to back away and cut it.England's bowlers have done well against him because of the following reasonsHarmison in that Lions game followed him and tucked him up and gave him no room. Freddie has done the same and when he has pitched it up like in the second innings at Lords he troubled him again as Hughes likes to back away and make room to hit through the off side but doe snot necessarily come on the front foot.Anderson is a bit like Steyn as he is skiddy so when he tried to bang it in on that slow track at Cardiff he was all over the place but at Lords he pitched it up to Hughes and troubled him. One may say that Hughes eventually got out to a short pitch ball from Anderson but the shot came about because Anderson troubled him by pitching it up.Spinners like Swann can trouble him too as Hughes likes to slog sweep a lot but Swann is good against the lefthanders as he comes around the wicket so Hughes has to hit across the line. Swann also has a few variations and can turn the quicker one he bowls.To end it Hughes to do well has to do something about that tendency to back away and that would help him with regards to his on side shots and would help him against short pitch stuff. He also has to come forward as in the modern game coming forward has become more important than back foot play. Hughes also has to improve with regards to playing spin as he plays with hard hands and looks to hit too much across. He has the shots against the spinners but should find ways of rotating the strike and that is the end of my rant.
It is a joke that he was compared to Bradman.A more reasonable comparison can be with Jayasuriya of Lanka. The difference though is that Jaya though could be tucked up by short pitch stuff as he liked room outside the of stump and full deliveries as he did not like coming forward still he didn't back away like Hughes so, had enough shots on the on side to play with.
You have got a good argument regd. the poor results that Anderson got…Yes, Jayasuriya didn't like the short ball and he did have that amazing flick onto the leg side which magically sails past the fence even though Jayasuriya doesn't seem to be putting much of an effort into the shot.Perhaps its just early days for Hughes, he'll learn, but I'm not too happy about the fact that he gets a chance to learn on the international circuit…quite unbelievable to see that no-one in the domestic circuit noticed this weakness! :O
Th difference is in domestic cricket there won't be too many bowlers bowling around 90 miles per hour. I did see though Parnell getting Hughes out in a domestic onedayer in England by bringing it back into him and cramping him for room.Hughes can learn but it would be difficult for him not to back away from the stumps as he has played with that technique for a long time.
I am sorry for the spelling mistakes as my keyboard is old and not in the best condition.
I wouldn't agree with the 'unable to change' part entirely….ph408 will just have to look @ Jayasuriya for inspiration…he was just an ordinary leggie batting at no.8…pushed up the order and revolutionized cricket as a whole! 🙂
Yeah Jaya was an ordinary left arm spin bowler who bowled that odd good spell in onedayers like that 6 wicket haul against England in 1993, but he did play a few good knocks in onedayers early in his career at number 7 or 8. It is not so easy to come at number 8 and be successful so, the credit has to go to Ranatunga who pushed him up the order in Australia in 1995/96 and he did play a superb knock probably at Melbourne which showed that he has potential and of course he had a great time in the 1996 world cup.I am not trying to say that Hughes can't succeed but he has to make some changes to his technique, but it won't be easy for him as he has played with that technique for sometime.