"The way he went about it was breathtaking."
Simon Katich had among the best seats in the house when Phillip Hughes, then 20 years old, took apart one of South Africa's greatest ever attacks in just his second Test in Durban in 2009 for a maiden Test century, followed by 160 in the second innings, becoming the youngest player to make twin hundreds in a Test.
He would make another 20 first-class centuries after his hundreds at Kingsmead, but that 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 allrounder ever in Jacques Kallis. They just had no idea where to bowl at him."
November 27 marks ten years since Hughes' tragic death, two days after he was struck by a bouncer during a Sheffield Shield game at the SCG in 2014.
Hughes' Test career had started at the Wanderers in Johannesburg, a week before Durban, after he had been selected as Matthew Hayden's successor following a prolific start to his first-class career only 14 months before. He did not make it through the first over, top-edging Dale Steyn for a duck, but made a hard-working 75 in the second innings to help set up Australia's victory when the South Africa quicks went after him with the short ball.
"I was always a huge fan of his and when he did make his Test debut, even though he missed out in that first innings, it never flustered him," Katich said. "After the first Test, the way he got out in the first innings in Johannesburg, there were some questions raised. But he never let it affect how he was around the group. He was one of those happy-go-lucky young guys."
In Durban he showed the full range of his talent, which had fetched 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 behind square on the off side had already become a trademark, but here he unfurled shots all 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 quite sure at the toss because it didn't look like a great wicket, but it actually played pretty 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," Katich joked.
"The thing that stood out to me was that in between 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 stage we were talking about his bulls back in Macksville. We all knew he was special, but to do that in your second Test, against that quality of attack, in those conditions, was outstanding.
"You only had to be marginally wide of probably middle and off stump because he just had this amazing ability to take the ball from the top of the stumps, which is a good ball to most, who would play it defensively or leave it, and he would be carving it behind point or in front of point."
Ten overs after the interval, Hughes had moved to 89 and was facing 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 dragged another slightly wider over deep midwicket. He eventually fell to Kallis for 115, brilliantly caught by Neil McKenzie in the gully, ending a stand of 184 in 44 overs with Katich.
"They'd crowd the off side with a 7-2 field and he still kept picking the gaps. Then, as soon as Harris came on, he decided to launch him onto the hill," Katich said. "He was going to back himself, and I encouraged that. We were always talking about building the partnership in sets of ten runs; the beauty about that was he was knocking off ten runs in a couple of balls!
"What he did in Durban was superb to watch, and to be at the other end witnessing it firsthand was inspiring. It was watching a youngster play with the freedom of youth and not a care in the world. He was a remarkable player."
****
The first time Katich, the New South Wales captain at the time, saw Hughes play was in a grade game 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 volume of runs being churned out by Steven Smith.
"I hadn't probably heard as much about Hughesy but the New South Wales selectors had been talking to me about him," Katich said. "Once I saw him play, that was when I realised this guy has some serious hand-eye because I watched his footwork and thought, this is different to most. It looked a bit unorthodox, but he hits the ball sweetly and he's got a bloody good eye.
"That's the beauty of the game, everyone's got a different style and you play according to what suits. We picked him not long after that club game - he only made 30 from memory - but we thought this kid had something about him ,and he kept making runs. We gave him a chance and he grabbed it with both hands."
Hughes made 51 on his first-class debut, opening the batting, with five more half-centuries in his next five matches, which built towards the 2007-08 Sheffield Shield final (or Pura Cup, as it was known then). Having fallen 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 unbeatable position. They would eventually win by 258 runs.
"When he debuted for New South Wales, it was phenomenal to watch," Katich said. "That first few months, it felt like he was my little shadow. Wherever I was, he would be right beside me and if we were both out, he'd be sitting beside me in the viewing area.
"He had a cheeky grin and talked his way into third slip. We spent quite a bit of time at the crease together. Great 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 side for a trip to India, then in his second game of the 2008-09 summer, he struck 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 skittled South Africa for 138, Ponting declined to enforce the follow-on. This time the stand with Katich was cut off at 55, but Hughes ploughed on. After the largely fluent 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 an upper cut through backward point. At 20 years 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 into not only his hunger but his skill and mental application to start again," Katich said. "A lot of senior players find it hard to score twin hundreds. It doesn't happen that often. To be able to go out there as a young player in your second Test and do it against that quality of opposition, particularly when conditions can change, it started to go a bit up and down, 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 go through the first setback of his career. Before the 2009 Ashes, Hughes was averaging 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 that lived with him for a bit, he was in and out of the team, and it's always tough when you get back in and you're trying to make the most of it. That had played on his mind a bit."
It heralded a period where he couldn't nail down a regular place in the Test side, although he scored 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 chair of selectors John Inverarity saying they had Hughes in mind for the 2015 World Cup.
In what would prove to be his penultimate Test, against England at Trent Bridge, he made an unbeaten 81 alongside Ashton Agar's record-breaking 98 at No. 11. In August 2014, he scored a career-best 243 not out against South Africa A, which came two weeks after a one-day double-hundred against the same side.
"When the accident happened, there was a real sense that he wasn't far away from being back in the team and would stay there," Katich said. "He was an all-format player. He was still young and we'd 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."