Hughes prepares for battle
Phillip Hughes, last seen scratching around against spin in India, is steeling himself for battle against Graeme Swann after going a long way towards saving his Test spot in Australia's tour match win over Somerset.
Hughes excelled with two half-centuries in the county game and his comfort at No.4 and 5 suggested he could overcome his previous difficulties in English conditions by batting in the middle order.
That could mean coming in against spin, which on Indian pitches doctored to suit the Ravi Ashwin-led contingent was enough to put him into a state of paralysis. A dry summer means the English are likely to prepare wickets to suit Swann, who loves bowling to left-handers.
However, Hughes said he had been working hard behind the scenes on a method to combat spin and intended to tap into the knowledge of new coach Darren Lehmann, who was one of the world's most inventive players of spin bowling.
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"I'll be talking to him day in and day out because he really dominated spin bowling through his whole career so it's something we can all keep working on," Hughes said after making 76 not out and 50 in the warm-up match against at Tauton.
"The one day [in England for the Champions Trophy] were quite dry and reversed and did turn a little bit, too. It turned here so it's about working behind the scenes in the nets and facing the spinning ball. There's things we've all been working on and I know there's a couple for myself but I won't go into them.''
Somerset's left-arm spinner George Dockrell took three second-inning wickets against the Australians but Hughes managed to turn over the strike and hit the Irishman for a pair of sixes. That's something he was unable to do until the end of the series in India.
He would almost certainly have been dropped for the Mohali Test if spare batsman Usman Khawaja (who contributed 73 to the successful runchase against Somerset) had not been one of the four players suspended for not doing their homework.
"It's nice to get off strike, doesn't matter who you're facing especially at the start of your innings," Hughes said. "But they kept changing the field and you want to try and manipulate that as much as possible. I thought he [Dockrell] bowled quite well and there was a fair bit of rough outside off stump so it was nice to get to the other end today against a spinner and on a dry pitch."
While Hughes, who claimed to have no idea where he would bat in the Ashes, enhanced his Test claims, the pressure on Ed Cowan mounted when he missed a golden chance to cement his opening position.
Cowan looked in good touch until he swiped at a wide ball and was caught behind for 46, having scored three in the first innings.
With Victorian opener Chris Rogers set to play in the next tour match against Worcestershire from Tuesday, and without a first-class hundred since his breakthrough Test ton against South Africa in Brisbane in November, Cowan's long battle to end the uncertainty swirling around his position continues. It remains to be seen whether he will have another chance to do so before the first Test at Trent Bridge, his home in county cricket this season.
