'He pulverised them': When Phillip Hughes took down the Proteas

Evening of 6 March 2009, Durban

From underneath his brand-new Baggy Green cap, Phillip Hughes flashes his trademark grin.

Sitting in front of a throng of awe-struck reporters at Kingsmead Stadium, he reflects on the back-to-back sixes that raised his maiden Test century.

"To bring it up in that way … usually in the 90s it's the opposite, you usually get a few singles."  

But there is nothing conventional about the innings. Like Picasso, his artwork is abstract but unforgettable. A masterpiece that has just reduced an elite bowling attack to gallery patrons.

"It was a great feeling," Hughes adds, "and one I'll never forget."

* * *

Australia's expectations heading to South Africa in early 2009 had been unusually low. The Aussies had just been humbled 2-1 at home by the Proteas, their first series loss on home soil since 1992-93.

"It was a series where we came in as massive underdogs," said Andrew McDonald, Australia's current head coach who played all four of his Tests against South Africa that summer. "Matty Hayden had just retired, and there wasn't great feedback on the touring team that we had."

With Ben Hilfenhaus, Marcus North and Hughes were all set to make their debuts in the first Test of the return series, a new era was dawning for Australia.

Hayden's retirement in January 2009 opened the door for the diminutive Hughes to earn his first Test cap, which the 20-year-old had earned after 1,647 first-class runs at 58.8 which included a hundred in a Sheffield Shield final.

While his personal contribution on debut was mixed – he scored 0 and 75 – the young opener was riding the high of his team's unexpected 162-run win in Johannesburg.

"Words can't describe how happy I am," Hughes said after his debut. "My first Test, the Baggy Green cap and one (win) from one is a great feeling."

In the three days between Tests, the "hardworking" Hughes refined his game with long sessions in the nets; McDonald insists no player hit more balls.

Yet the elation Hughes was feeling was only set to improve as the coin came down in Australian captain Ricky Ponting's favour in Kingsmead for the second Test.

"We saw it (the pitch) in the lead up, and we had no idea how it was going to play," Simon Katich told cricket.com.au in 2024.

"I remember 'Punter' was not sure what he was going to do at the toss, because it was really thickly covered in quite green grass. I'd been to Durban before, but I thought this could be a tough track."

Ponting chose to bat first, as he had done in Johannesburg, reigniting the Hughes versus Dale Steyn contest that in the first Test ended comprehensively in the SA spearhead's favour.

A week earlier, Hughes hadn't survived his first over on Test debut. A nervous swipe high and wide outside off stump from a loose Steyn delivery was feathered through to the wicketkeeper Mark Boucher, ending his maiden innings without troubling the scorers.

"He got out trying to cut a ball that was well above his head," McDonald said, "and he's out for a duck, and everyone was thinking, "'Oh, what have we got here?'"

This was Steyn at his fearsome best – at this point of his career the 25-year-old had 159 Test wickets at 23.38.

As Hughes looked up the Durban pitch and past umpire Billy Bowden, he could see Steyn beginning the charge towards him. The Proteas quick reached top speed when Bowden stepped out to stop the match's beginning. Several security guards had failed to realise the match was commencing and were still loitering on the field of play. A false start for Steyn. An exhale from Hughes. The excruciating anticipation of that terrifying first ball was dragged out. But if there were nerves, Hughes didn't show it. The opening delivery, when it finally came, was calmly left alone outside off. And the runs flowed soon after.

This time his fourth ball produced his opening run. At the end of the second over, Hughes punished a half-volley from Makhaya Ntini to register his opening boundary.

"That's the beauty of that knock," Katich said, "because I was thinking, 'I'm not sure how this (pitch) is going to play'."

"A wicket can look ugly, but it might not play ugly. But it didn't bother (Hughes) one little bit."

The first drinks break hadn't yet been called when Hughes stamped his authority on the contest. First-change bowler Morne Morkel, who had created a rivalry with the pint-sized Aussie after offering a gobful of advice to the Test debutant in Johannesburg, was into his second over of the innings.

The exchange came after a string of ungainly shots during Hughes' second-innings 75 which riled the two-metre-tall quick. McDonald remembered his rookie teammate replying with nothing more than a toothy grin.

"I love it. I love them to come hard at me," Hughes said after his debut. "I'm only a short left-hand opening batsman. They like to come pretty hard but I love that challenge. I'm sure I'm going to get more of it and I can't wait."

However, Hughes' brutal treatment of Morkel ensured the giant quick had nothing more to chirp about.

The boy from Macksville sent consecutive deliveries to the midwicket and long off boundary, before seeing the next ball fly over his, and keeper Boucher's, head for four byes. A frustrated Morkel tried a wonder-ball fired in at the stumps, which Hughes gleefully flicked to the fine leg fence. Four boundaries in a row should have been how the 12th over ended – but Morkel had overstepped on the last. With the South African's radar now completely blown, the re-bowled final ball also ended up at the fine leg rope. Twenty-one runs off the over. Hughes had tormented his tormentor.

The South Africans cycled through their plans to Hughes, which he responded to in a clear, calculating manner.

"There were questions about whether or how he would cope with the fast bowling, especially short pitch bowling," then-Australia head coach Tim Nielsen remembered.

"But he did it his way. He didn't try and hook too many. If they got chest high, he'd pull them. He had no issues with the ball flying over gully and flying over slip if he needed to. That was almost a staple shot for him. And he played so well."

After resuming on 75 after the lunch break, Hughes' scoring dried up, especially against Steyn, who had strung together several tight overs against the Test rookie. When he retained the strike for the new over to be sent down by left-arm spinner Paul Harris, Hughes (on 89) decided it was time to strike.

He heaved the opening ball of the over past mid-on for four, so Harris fired in three darts in an attempt to pin him down. It worked only momentarily. Hughes got down on one knee and unleashed two other-worldly slog sweeps to move to 99 and then 105, crunching the spinner way over the advertising hoardings, first straight down the ground and then over wide long on.

"He just kept banging him onto the onto the grass hill there at Durban," Katich said. "To see the sheer elation on his face. I'll never forget that jump for joy.

"It's a proud moment, your first Test hundred for Australia, and to do it in the manner that he did it against the quality of opposition in their home conditions, in what was a big series for us, that stood out to me."

The second six landed just to the right of the away team's viewing room, which is nestled in the eastern end of the Kingsmead northern pavilion.  

A sharp catch by Neil McKenzie in the gully ended Hughes' innings on 115 and ultimately led Australia to a whopping 214-run first-innings advantage.

By the second innings began on the morning of day three, the hosts had some fresh plans to curb the influence of young Australian tyro.

But Hughes' heater could not be stopped. The second ball of Steyn's second over was a length ball on middle stump that the New South Welshman carved through a crowded backward point for four. The champion quick shook his head in disbelief.

"I'll just never forget Dale Steyn," Katich said. "Walking back to the top of his mark, scratching his head thinking, 'I've just bowled probably my best ball, top of off, and he's carved it behind point', where they've got probably three or four guys in that area. They had a seven-two field and they were blocking all that scoring area up.

"But his hand-eye (coordination) was so good and he backed himself so much that it didn't matter where the field was, he just kept pinpointing the gaps."

With time on Australia's side, Hughes showed he had more than one gear. He played second-fiddle to Ponting in the pair's 164-run partnership as the visitors built an unassailable lead.

Where his first-innings century took 132 deliveries, he reached the mark off 247 in the second. The extraordinary feat saw him become the youngest player to score hundreds in both innings of a Test, breaking the record set by West Indian George Headley some 79 years earlier.

When Hughes was finally dismissed by Ntini with the second new ball, he had 160 runs to his name, with his 57 runs coming from 76 balls.

"A special talent," McDonald said. "And to put it all on display in two wonderful knocks that will be remembered for the rest of time."

South Africa were never a chance of reaching their target of 545 and the Aussies wrapped up the victory by 175 runs, winning the series with a game to spare. A new era of the Test team had begun with a remarkable victory away from home.

Katich confirmed that "celebrations were big" and according to multiple eyewitness accounts, no-one went harder than the man of the moment, Hughes.  

"Hughesy was always front and centre," McDonald said with a smile.

"He brought a real sparkle to the group," added Nielsen.

And the gravity of the achievement immediately sunk in for his teammates.

"The twin tons in Durban, I realised pretty quickly how special the knocks were, particularly in the first innings," Katich said. "He took that attack to town within the first two hours (of the match).

"And then to go and do it in the second innings … he just went out there and pulverised them everywhere.

"We had a special talent that was evolving right in front of our eyes in his second Test, which was just phenomenal."

Qantas tour of South Africa 2026

All matches to be broadcast exclusively in Australia on Kayo and Fox Cricket

First Test: October 9-13, Kingsmead Stadium, Durban, 6:30pm AEDT (9:30am local)

Second Test: October 18-22, St George's Park, Gqeberha, 7pm AEDT (10am local)

Third Test: October 27-31, Newlands, Cape Town, 7:30pm AEDT (10:30am local)

South Africa's first Test preliminary squad: Temba Bavuma (c), Marques Ackerman, David Bedingham, Corbin Bosch, Gerald Coetzee, Tony de Zorzi, Simon Harmer, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, Wiaan Mulder, Senuran Muthusamy, Anrich Nortje, Dane Paterson, Kagiso Rabada, Ryan Rickelton, Tristan Stubbs, Kyle Verreynne

Australia Test squad: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cooper Connolly, Cameron Green, Sam Harper, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis (second Test onwards), Matthew Kuhnemann, Marnus Labuschagne, Nic Maddinson, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Beau Webster