Langer is determined to see Hughes back in the Australian squad

Australia batting coach Justin Langer believes former Test opener Phillip Hughes has the potential to regain his spot on the roster if he overcomes his batting flaws.

Hughes is currently trying to do just that by playing domestic cricket for South Australia.

Hughes also spent a lot of time in England playing county cricket for Worcestershire and is hoping to convince the national team selectors that he should be opening the batting for Australia in the upcoming South Africa Test series in November.

The Australian selectors have dropped Hughes twice, but Langer believes he has the “killer instinct” to succeed and go on to become a successful opening batsman for Australia in future series.

The Sydney Morning Herald quoted Langer as saying: “He’s got 19 first-class centuries. By the time I was his age I had one. Phil Hughes knows how to make runs. I know how hard he works on his game, he came and stayed with me in Perth about 18 months ago and I tried to break him every way I could, physically the way I trained him, on the bowling machine. He just came back for more and more, I thought, ‘this kid’s a lunatic, he has got spirit about him and he’s hungry for it’. He’s got something about him. He’s got that killer instinct. You can’t make that many runs without it.”

Langer advised Hughes to improve on his technique and mentality during matches, while also ensuring that he played more orthodox cricketing strokes.

“Phil Hughes has got areas of his game to get better at technically and mentally. He is a bit unorthodox but how exciting is it that he’s got two hundreds against the best fast bowling attack in the world, South Africa [in 2009],” Langer said.