Oz opener Hughes must bat with ‘positive intent’ to retain Ashes spot: Langer

MELBOURNE - Australian opening batsman Phillip Hughes needs to show “positive intent” in order to bat himself back into form, according to batting coach Justin Langer.

Hughes, who was summoned to replace injured Simon Katich, has disappointed by scoring two and 12 in the third Test of the ongoing Ashes series.

The 22-year-old is yet to make a decent score in his three career Tests against England (71 runs at 14.20).

“Going into Boxing Day, it’ll be about positive intent, which will help get his feet moving,” the Age quoted Langer, as saying.

“If he gets his feet dancing, he’ll be laughing,” he added.

Langer also insists that batting for survival would only hasten Hughes’s demise.

“It takes courage to relax and look to hit the ball, especially when you haven’t hit any runs for a little while. His great strength is that he’s such an aggressive player, so he should keep having that positive intent,” Langer said.

“It’s actually the best way to get out of any slump because you’re ready to pounce on the bad ball, but you defend and leave the better ball. You’re going to spend more time in the middle and you’ll score more runs. That has to be the mindset of all the batsmen,” he added.

The left-handed batsman had burst on to the international scene with two hundreds in his second Test, against South Africa in March last year.

However, he was dropped from the Test side during last year’s Ashes series because England bowlers had successfully exposed his discomfort to short-balls into his body, which restricted his ability to play his favourite cut shot.(ANI)