Phillip Hughes joins Worcestershire

Phillip Hughes, the Australia left-hander, will join Worcestershire in June for his third stint in county cricket.

He is currently fighting to retain his place in the Test side having endured a poor series against New Zealand where he fell to the same combination - caught Guptill, bowled Martin - in all four innings for a tally of 41 runs. With David Warner having carried his bat for 123 in the second innings in Hobart, Hughes now faces a fight to hold onto his berth for the Boxing Day Test against India.

Hughes has had previous spells with Middlesex in 2009 and Hampshire in 2010. In three matches for Middlesex before the Ashes series he scored 574 runs at 143.50 with three hundreds, but only lasted for two Tests after being troubled by Andrew Flintoff. When he returned for Hampshire the following summer he made just 85 runs in six innings.

"I'm absolutely thrilled to be heading back to England," Hughes said. "Worcestershire is a quality organisation and I can't wait to meet my new team-mates and re-acquaint myself with English conditions. My previous stint in England helped my batting enormously and I have high expectations that spending the 2012 Australian winter in the UK will do the same."

Steve Rhodes, Worcestershire's director of cricket, added: "To gain the signature of the current Australian Test opener is a tremendous boost for the club and the players for the 2012 season. Phil is a heavy run-scorer with a career ratio of a century every four games in first-class cricket."