What could have been: Michael Clarke, David Warner and Shane Watson on the player Phillip Hughes would have become

Phillip Hughes’ death left a massive hole in Australia’s heart. It also left a nation wondering what could have been. His teammates explain just how good the little left-hander would’ve become.

David Warner is proud of his own career but he will always hold an unshakeable belief that Phillip Hughes had the potential to have a better one.

“Unlike me, he could be really watchful as well. I think in that sense, he had probably a more expansive game than me in terms of being able to soak up balls. And he had an attacking game,” Warner said.

“I’d like to think he was probably a more complete player than what I was.

“I would like to think that he would have had the same career if not better than Steve (Smith) and myself.

“Imagine what a better team we could have been if Hughesy was there. Not to be rude (to others who have opened the batting) but I think the combination of Hughes, Warner, Khawaja, Smith would have been, in my mind, an unbelievable top four.”

Michael Clarke gives Phillip Hughes a pat on the back at the end of a day’s play in Durban in 2009.

As Australian cricket prepares to mark the 10th anniversary of Hughes’ tragic passing, Warner has lamented the fact he never had the chance to foster what could have been a legendary partnership with the man he opened the batting with on Test debut against New Zealand in 2011.

And he’s not the only one.

The unanimous verdict from Hughes’ former teammates is he would have joined the echelon of Australian cricketing greats.

“One hundred Tests. He would have played 100 Tests,” Michael Clarke says without hesitation.

“I think he would have opened the batting with David Warner for 100 Test matches. I definitely do.

“He could have batted 3, but I think he would have ended up opening the batting for Australia.

“I think he would have adapted brilliantly to T20 cricket and one-day cricket at the top of the order. He would have been phenomenal.

Michael Clark thinks Phillip Hughes and David Warner could have opened together for 100 Test matches.

“He had everything on his side. Age, his love of the game, his hard work, the way he knew how to score runs. That was the thing Hughesy was better than a lot of people at: he knew how to make hundreds, even from such a young age.

“That was instilled in him as a boy.

“As a young player he had a lot of things that people couldn’t see. But he knew how to score runs as well as anyone I played with. As good as Warner, Smith, Ponting, Hayden, Langer. The best players generally, even on a bad day, they make a 40 or 60, and he had that in him.

“I think he would have been retiring as we speak as a 100 Test player. This might have been his last summer.”

Mitchell Starc was involved in the fateful match when Hughes was tragically struck and said his World Cup-winning team have not forgotten the batsman who has been robbed of those triumphs.

“In another lifetime he’s probably a part of this (recent World Cup success). Every chance to be a part of this group today,” Starc said.

“He was fantastic to play with and to watch and it’s sad that we don’t get to see him blossom into the career that he was touted for.

“Obviously a lot of players in this current Australian group have grown up with Phil. The anniversary will be a day where there’s a lot of thoughts about our time with him and it’ll be a tough day for a lot of people. Our thoughts are with his family.”

Hughes was currently outside the Australian Test XI trying to fight his way back in when he was struck at the SCG.

Teammate Shane Watson is adamant it was only a matter of time until Hughes cemented himself as a permanent fixture in the Australian side.

“In the couple of years before that time, he just had a technical thing, and we all had technical things that we have to work around and negate,” Watson said.

“It would not have taken Phil long at all to just totally get on top of that because his super power was his ability to score runs. He just knew how to score runs.

“For me it’s a no-brainer that he would have been in the echelon with David Warner and Steve Smith because he was born to score runs.”

Phillip Hughes makes his way from the ground at the end of Day 3 in Durban in 2011.

According to long-time NSW teammate and adversary Steve O’Keefe, it’s not even a question whether Hughes would have joined the pantheon of Australian batting icons.

“I don’t even think it, I have no doubt. We would have been talking him in the same breath as Warner and Smith. It’s not a question. He just was,” O’Keefe said.

“If you asked Steve Smith and David Warner I’m pretty sure they’d answer the same way.

“I don’t want to just speak fondly of him because he has passed, I genuinely think anyone who knew what good batting was, just seeing him, you knew.

“I think to some of the series in the subcontinent where Australia struggled and I immediately think what Phil could have contributed to those failed trips. His ability to play spin and adapt his game to all conditions.

Phillip Hughes and Shane Watson in Hobart after defeating Sri Lanka in 2011. Picture: Robert Cianflone/Getty Images.

“He just would have solved the opening batting issue for us. You would have seen Warner and Hughes – that would have been it for 10 plus years and they would have played off each other brilliantly.

“We missed that opportunity to be able to watch those two go out and dominate world cricket in all formats.

“He had so many similarities to Steve Smith in his adaptability and his genius.”

Originally published as What could have been: Michael Clarke, David Warner and Shane Watson on the player Phillip Hughes would have become