Simon Katich remembers Phillip Hughes ten years after his death

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“The way he did it was breathtaking.”

Simon Katich had among the best seats in the house when Phillip Hughes, then aged 20, picked apart one of South Africa’s greatest ever attacks in his very second Test in Durban in 2009 for a maiden Test century, followed by 160 in the second innings, becoming the youngest player to make two hundreds in a Test.

He would make another 20 first-class centuries after his hundreds at Kingsmead, but it was the game where he announced himself to the world.

“Dale Steyn was at the peak of his powers, as was Morne Morkel,” Katich recalled. “Makhaya Ntini was still a handful and they had the best all-rounder ever in Jacques Kallis. They just had no idea where to bowl him.”

November 27 marks ten years since Hughes’ tragic death, two days after he was hit by a bouncer during a Sheffield Shield match at the SCG in 2014.

Hughes’ Test career had started at the Wanderers in Johannesburg, a week before Durban, having been selected as Matthew Hayden’s successor following a prolific start to his first-class career just 14 months earlier. He didn’t make it through the first over, with Dale Steyn on top for a duck, but made a hard-working 75 in the second innings to help set up Australia’s win as the South Africa quick went after him with the short ball.

“I’ve always been a big fan of his and when he made his Test debut, even though he missed the first innings, it never fazed him,” Katich said. “After the first Test, the way he came out in the first innings in Johannesburg, there were some questions that were raised. But he never let it affect how he was around the group. He was one of those happy young guys . “

In Durban, he showed the full range of his talent, which had earned him a first-class debut as a 19-year-old in late 2007. Early in the first session, he took four boundaries off an over from Morkel. Hughes’ power back square on the off side had already become a trademark, but here he unleashed shots around the wicket, including some princely straight-driving.

“I remember looking at the wicket and we weren’t all sure what to do,” Katich said. “I know Punter (Ricky Ponting) wasn’t really sure about the throw because it didn’t look like a great wicket, but it actually played quite well. Hughesy just completely dismantled them in the first couple of hours.”

Hughes left his senior partner in his wake. At lunch he was on 74 with 14 boundaries and Katich had 32. “It was a bloody good partnership,” joked Katich.

“What stood out to me was that between the overs it didn’t feel like we were playing a Test match because he was so relaxed and chilled,” he added. “I think at one point we were talking about his bulls back at Macksville. We all knew he was special, but to do that in your second Test, against that quality of attack, in those conditions, was exceptional.

“You only needed to be marginally wide for probably middle and outside off stump because he just had this amazing ability to take the ball off the top of the stumps, which is a good ball for most people who would play it defensively or let it be, and he would cut it behind the point or in front of the point.”

Ten overs after the interval, Hughes had moved to 89 and faced left-arm spinner Paul Harris. Six balls later, he had become Australia’s youngest Test century maker in 43 years. He went to 99 with a straight six over long-on, then next delivery pulled another one slightly wider over deep midwicket. He eventually fell to Kallis for 115, brilliantly caught by Neil McKenzie at gap, ending a stand of 184 in 44 overs with Katich.

“They wanted to crowd the off side with a 7-2 pitch and he still kept picking the holes. So, as soon as Harris got on the field, he decided to send him to the mound,” Katich said. “He wanted to back himself and I encouraged that. We always talked about building the partnership in sets of ten runs; the beauty of it was that he knocked off ten runs in a couple of balls!

“What he did in Durban was amazing to watch and to be on the other end to witness it was inspiring. It was to see a young man play with the freedom of youth and not a care in the world. He was a remarkable player.”

The first time Katich, New South Wales’ captain at the time, saw Hughes play was in a class match at Pratten Park in Sydney. Katich had been aware of other notable names coming through the system: he played alongside Usman Khawaja as a 17-year-old and had seen the amount of runs being extracted by Steven Smith.

“I probably hadn’t heard much about Hughesy, but the New South Wales voters had spoken to me about him,” Katich said. “Once I saw him play, that’s when I realized this guy has serious hand-eye because I saw his footwork and thought, this is different than most. It looked a little unorthodox, but he hits the ball sweetly , and he has a damn good eye.

“That’s the beauty of the game, everyone has a different style and you play to what suits you. We didn’t pick him long after that club game – he only made 30 from memory – but we thought this kid had something about him , and he kept running. We gave him a chance and he grabbed it with both hands.”

Hughes made 51 on his first-class debut, which opened the batting, with five more half-centuries in his next five matches, which built up to the 2007–08 Sheffield Shield final (or Pura Cup as it was then called). After falling to Peter Siddle for six in the first innings against Victoria, he became the youngest player to score a century in a Shield final, putting New South Wales in an unrivaled position. They would eventually win by 258 runs.

“When he made his debut for New South Wales it was phenomenal to watch,” Katich said. “For the first few months it felt like he was my little shadow. Wherever I was he would be right next to me and if we were both out he would sit next to me in the viewing area .

“He had a cheeky grin and talked himself into third slip. We spent quite a bit of time in the paddock together. Good memories of him.

“Out of all the guys I’ve played with in my career, don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone say a bad word about Phil Hughes.”

At the end of that season Hughes was straight into the Australia A team for a tour of India and in his second match of the 2008–09 summer he hit 198 against South Australia. Three more centuries followed in consecutive matches which booked his ticket to South Africa.

Back in Durban, Hughes was far from finished. After Australia bowled out South Africa for 138, Ponting declined to enforce the follow-on. This time the stand with Katich was cut off at 55, but Hughes plowed on. After the largely fluid display on the opening day, this was an innings of different stages: his first fifty took 78 balls, his second 169 and his third 66.

Fittingly, his hundred arrived with a backward uppercut. At 20 years and 98 days, Hughes had broken George Headley’s record as the youngest player to make two hundreds in a Test.

“It’s a great snapshot of not only his hunger, but his skill and mental application to start again,” Katich said. “A lot of senior players struggle to score two hundreds. It doesn’t happen very often. To be able to go out there as a young player in your second Test and do it against that quality of opposition, especially when the conditions can change, it started to go up and down a little bit, to be able to go out there, back up, have the hunger to start again, mentally and physically, it was remarkable.”

A few months later, Katich saw Hughes suffer the first setback of his career. Before the 2009 Ashes, Hughes averaged 69.36 in first-class cricket with ten centuries from 24 matches. But he was dropped two games into the series after Andrew Flintoff worked him over from around the wicket.

“I was as shocked as anyone and hurt for him,” Katich said. “It was a brutal call and living with him a bit, he was in and out of the team and it’s always tough when you come back in and you try to make the most of it. It had played on his think a little.”

It heralded a period in which he could not nail down a regular place in the Test team, although he did score a third hundred against Sri Lanka in 2011 during a longer run back in the XI. A return to South Africa in 2011 brought 88 in Johannesburg, in the Test Pat Cummins made his debut in. In 2013, there was a century on ODI debut against Sri Lanka, with then committee chairman John Inverarity saying they had Hughes in mind for the 2015 World Cup.

“When the accident happened, there was a real sense that he was not far away from being back in the team and wanted to stay there,” Katich said. “He was an all-format player. He was still young and we had seen plenty of examples of players who have been dropped and come back stronger for it. Most, if not all of us, agreed that Hughesy would have been in the same category. He had so much more to come.”

Andrew McGlashan is deputy editor at ESPNcricinfo