Khawja, Doolan fall by the way side:

Aussie selectors recall Hughes

ELMO Rodrigopulle reporting

The Australian selectors laid to rest all speculation when they recalled left hander Phil Hughes to take Ricky Ponting's slot in the squad they named to face Sri Lanka in the First Test beginning at the Bellerive Oval in Hobart on December 14.

Since Ponting retired front runners were Phil Hughes, Usman Khawaja and Alex Doolan. Hughes pushed out Khawaja and Doolan and will return to the venue where h played the last of his 17 Test matches. What went in favour of Hughes was that he has improved his game technically in the past six months and scored big runs at first-class level. Hughes was dropped after New Zealand paceman Chris Martin did him in, in four consecutive innings.

Hughes said he had learned valuable lessons and promised not to repeat the horros that were Hobart. Hughes who moved to South Australia from New South Wales in the off season has scored 524 first class runs at 47.63 - with a top score of 158 against Victoria a fortnight ago.

The Australian squad: Michael Clarke (C), Shane Watson, Ed.Cowans, Ben Hilfenhaus, Phil Hughes, Michael Hussy, Mitchell Johnson, Nathan Lyon, Peter Siddle, Mitchell Starc, Matthew Wade (wk) and David Warner.

Canberra, Thursday.