Cricket: Paceman looms over Hughes

Phillip Hughes is set to face the greatest obstacle of his short international career in the form of giant England quick Steve Harmison at Lord's this week.

The Durham paceman is ambling his way into the side for the second Ashes test after Andrew Flintoff reinjured his troublesome knee in the drawn opener in Cardiff.

And Harmison's shadow is expected to loom over Hughes more than any other Australian batsman at the home of cricket.

The way Harmison successfully twice worked him over with the short ball in Worcester a fortnight ago has become England's main plan of attack for the little left-hander this series.

The problem for England is that the likes of James Anderson and Stuart Broad did not appear capable of producing the steepling, accurate bounce at Sophia Gardens with the new ball that has made Hughes so uncomfortable.

The New South Welshman comfortably dealt with that pair before Andrew Flintoff roughed him up in an inspired spell and brought him undone by cramping him up on 36.

The in-form Harmison should be more of a handful at Lord's than in Worcester as the London pitch is tipped to be a bit firmer and offer more to the seamers.

But opening partner Simon Katich expected the 20-year-old Hughes to fire at Lord's where he recently enjoyed a prolific stint with Middlesex.

"I don't think it will be a drama for him," he said.

"He batted beautifully the other day and got a pretty good ball.

"It was a testing spell from Freddie [Flintoff] early on with the new ball. He was bowling at good pace.

"You know when the bowlers are fresh they're always going to be at their hardest.

"I thought he came through it well, and had he got through that period he might have gone on to to get a massive score."

There also remain queries about Harmison's mental and physical strength with Australian coach Tim Nielsen this month questioning his ability to maintain his performance for an entire test match.

"Test match cricket goes for five days and you've got to be able to do it from ball one to ball two and a half thousand," Nielsen said.

"There's a fair bit of cricket that goes on in a test match."

- AAP