Ross Taylor: What he said, really meant and definitely did not

Ross Taylor Wishes For More Catching Practice From Philip Hughes

What he said (via ESPN Cricinfo):

“I’d love him to be in the team.”

Kiwi skipper Ross Taylor cannot hide his glee at Philip Hughes’ performance in the first Test at Brisbane.

The belligerent opener scored 10 and seven in his two outings in the middle.

The New South Wales batsman’s troubles outside the off stump continue.

Taylor said:

If Hughes plays in Tasmania then obviously Chris Martin will be bowling at him and hopefully Martin Guptill takes a third catch too.We had a lot of video footage of all the Australian players and Hughes got caught at second, third slip and gully a lot in the Ashes and in South Africa. That was definitely an area we wanted to target, and with the way Chris Martin bowls, he bowls across the left-hander.

Chris Martin bagged Hughes in both innings.

Michael Clarke put his hand up in defense of his young team-mate.

Clarke said:

I look forward to a press conference where I don’t get asked about Phillip Hughes.Once again, not concerning for me. I have confidence that Hughesy will come out in Hobart and perform. He got a hundred not that long ago, 80-odd not that long ago. I’ve seen Hughesy cut that ball for four a number of times. I’m sure he would be disappointed personally that he hasn’t made any runs in this test match, but I’m confident he can put his hand up in Hobart and get a big score for us.

Clarke believes that Hughes can deliver the goods and is a much improved batsman since his Test debut.

Clarke added:

I think his technique has improved out of sight.Every one of us has deficiencies in technique. And these days with the footage you can get on players, it’s very easy to find out what those deficiencies are. It’s no different for any batsman. I have seen a lot of improvement. I continue to see him scoring runs. Probably not as consistent as he would like, but he’s still scoring them. His record for NSW is better than any 23-year-old in this country. He’s scored three great hundreds for Australia and I’m confident he can score a lot more.

What Ross Taylor really meant:

“More slip catching practice for us.”

What Ross Taylor definitely didn’t:

“I’d love to have Hughes bat for my life.”