'You never know': Hughes on World Cup chances

Having been overlooked for first crack at replacing Aaron Finch despite being domestic cricket's most prolific one-day batter, let alone opener, for the past seven seasons, Daniel Hughes has made sure he won't be forgotten anytime soon.

On the same day Travis Head was installed as David Warner's new opening partner with Australia taking on England in the first Dettol ODI in Adelaide, Hughes peeled off his second successive 50-over century for NSW and third of the summer.

But the 33-year-old left-hander isn't just in the midst of a purple patch, in fact, he's been churning out runs ever since his second List A match in October 2016.

In that time no one has scored more 50-over domestic runs than Hughes's 1879 at an average of 56.94, and of current players only Shaun Marsh has reached triple figures more often – 10 centuries to Hughes' nine.

And his career batting average of 59.25 is second only to one-day great Michael Bevan (61.18) in the 53-year history of the Australian domestic one-day competition.

Head, who has formed a formidable bond with Warner with the pair averaging almost 100 in their five one-day internationals opening together, was again in the runs on Thursday with 69 off 57.

But should he slip up like he did 12 months out from the 2019 50-over World Cup, Hughes should undoubtedly be one of those in contention to take his place ahead the next showpiece event in India in less than a year.

Hughes will be 34 in February, but George Bailey's national selection panel has shown recently that age is no barrier, installing 35-year-old Usman Khawaja as Warner's permanent Test partner in January, who himself is 36.

"I should have started scoring those runs when I was a bit younger," said Hughes following his 101 off 114 balls against Tasmania on Thursday.

"But you never know, just keep putting runs on the board and you never know.

"I've scored three hundreds, but we've only won one game (this season), so it's nice to get that first win today and hopefully it kick-starts something for the rest of the year."

Hughes, who has played a decade of top-level cricket entirely for NSW-based teams after debuting for the Sydney Sixers aged 23, said the opportunity to open the batting had contributed to his outstanding success in the format.

"It's the best time to bat in one-day cricket," he said.

"I just go out there and bat, I don't think too much about it.

"It's just risk free for me and there's always only two fielders out in the first 10 (overs).

"It's just stay nice and still and play some cricket shots and once the field goes out and you're in, there's plenty of gaps."

And Hughes's risk-free mantra hasn't had any impact on his career List A strike-rate, with his respectable 87.61 up there with the likes of Warner (96.68), Steve Smith (88.25), Marnus Labuschagne (85.07), Alex Carey (87.88), Marcus Stoinis (87.98) and Cameron Green (94.14).

Australia play up to another 13 ODIs before the 2023 50-over World Cup in India in October-November, but if the selection of Tim David for the recent T20 edition is anything to go by, selectors aren't afraid to blood a debutant on the eve of the tournament.

"We go quickly into the next cycle of ICC events, which is a 50-over World Cup in less than 12 months and we've got 14 opportunities to be able to bring a team together under a new captain," head coach Andrew McDonald said yesterday.