Langer likens Hughes to Waugh

Justin Langer has likened the unflappable temperament of Phillip Hughes to that of Matthew Hayden and Steve Waugh, and predicted his opening successor is poised for a prolific Ashes series. As Hughes arrived in England for his first Ashes campaign on Tuesday, Langer lauded the 20-year-old for his determined, uncomplicated attitude towards batting.

"I have spent 20 years working on my batting and I still stress over it," Langer told Cricinfo. "Just the other day I was thinking about whether my stance was right, and my grip. I am always thinking about these things. He doesn't. I have encountered that kind of thinking before, but never in someone so young.

"Matty Hayden was someone who mightn't pick his bat up in the period immediately before a Test, preferring to just go out in the middle and sit cross legged on the pitch. I used to come up to him all the time asking him about this and that, and he would just turn round and say, 'Just watch the ball.' I would be thinking, 'It can't just be that easy.' Tugga (Steve Waugh) was the same. It's something you encounter from time to time in the great players after they've been around for a while. Hughes has got it now, and that's incredible."

Langer received an intriguing insight into the challenge that awaits Andrew Strauss this summer, when he captained Somerset in a recent Friends Provident Trophy match against Hughes' Middlesex. Somerset sought to deny Hughes any width to unleash his thunderous cuts and drives, but the rookie Australian opener would not be denied, blasting 119 from 112 deliveries to round out a sublime county stint.

"I had no idea how to set a field to him," Langer said. "He scored a hundred, and it was impossible to know what to do with him. You pitch the ball in one place, and he makes room for himself. So you pitch it in another, and he starts driving you as if he were facing a bowling machine. He doesn't get all caught up thinking about batting. He just does it. It is so uncomplicated. He hits the ball so hard. Technically, he doesn't get all that far forward, but Allan Border didn't get that far forward either."

Langer's relationship with Hughes was forged long before the former entrenched himself in the Australian top-order. As an emerging batsman with New South Wales, Hughes emailed Langer for batting tips. The maturity of the questions impressed Langer, and the pair have been in regular contact ever since.

"You get requests quite often from young kids, and most of the time their questions are about the technical aspects of the game," Langer said. "But I remember (Hughes') email, and it was all about the psychology of batting. There was a maturity to his questions that blew my mind. To me, the psychological aspects of batting are much more interesting to talk about, and are often overlooked. He already had his own ideas, and wanted to learn more.

"There is a brilliant youthful exuberance about him. You watch him batting, and more often than not there's a little grin on his face. There are no airs or graces about him. It's pretty simple. He wants to learn and get better. For an older bloke like me to be chatting with a young bloke who is all about the cricket, and not the fancy house and cars, is brilliant. You don't get that all the time these days, what with all the money around the game. He is switched onto what is important. He wants to score lots and lots of runs, and if he does that, then the fancy cars will take care of themselves anyway."