HAMPSHIRE have signed Australian opening batsman Phillip Hughes for the last four games of the season.
Hughes, 21, will replace Neil McKenzie, involved in the Twenty20 Champions League with the Highveld Lions. The first match for the left-hander, who played two Ashes Tests last summer, is expected to be the Championship match at Lancashire from August 31.
Hants manager Giles White told BBC Radio Solent: “We had a couple of options but he was the best one.”
Hughes had shoulder surgery in May but says he is “100% fit again”.
The dashing batsman was dropped by Australia during the 2009 Ashes series – infamously revealing his exclusion through social network Twitter – but was recalled for the tour of New Zealand in March this year.
Having missed Australia’s recent one-day series against England and Tests against Pakistan with his shoulder injury, he will be using his time at Hampshire to press for a place in the Test side when England tour this winter.
Hughes told the Hampshire official website: “I’ve heard so much about the culture, team spirit and organisation at Hampshire that it feels like the perfect fit for me.
“I’ve just completed a 12-week rehab programme after dislocating my shoulder in May and undergoing surgery.
I’m 100% fit again and the opportunity with Hampshire is going to give me some much needed match fitness in preparation for the 2010/11 Australian summer.”
Hughes briefly played in England for Middlesex at the start of the 2009 season. (BBC Sport)