It’s Phillip, not Phil, says Hughes

Will Swanton writes in the Sun-Herald about Phillip Hughes’ name request.

P. Hughes prefers to be called Phillip rather than Phil in print. Originally this seemed a bizarre request given Hughes - unshaven, a fan of shorts and thongs, the son of a banana farmer, vertically challenged, and a country bumpkin to the bone - is about as prim and proper as a stubbie-holder.

"Phillip" carries the outdated formality of a bygone era when players wore pencil-thin moustaches and paraded an almost mystical aura. Given the events of the Kingsmead Test, however, Phillip it is. Certain achievements command respect.

In the Sunday Age Tim Lane says the resurgence of Ricky Ponting's team in South Africa has diverted so dramatically from the script.