runs at an average of 35.81, with a highest score of 142*. He represented Australia at the 2008 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup. He was coached at Triforce Sports Cricket Centre in Mortlake. First-class career After scoring runs prolifically for New South Wales youth teams and Western Suburbs in Grade Cricket, Hughes was handed a rookie contract by New South Wales for the 2007–08 season. After scores of 51 and 137 for the New South Wales Second XI against Victoria's Second XI, he was rewarded with a call-up by Blues selectors to make his first-class debut. He played his first senior game against Tasmania on 20 November 2007 at the Sydney Cricket Ground. At 18 years and 355 days, Hughes was the youngest New South Wales debutant since Michael Clarke in 1999. In a comfortable victory for New South Wales, Hughes opened the batting and got his career off to a solid start, scoring a fluent 51 and taking 2 catches. Hughes had an outstanding debut season for New South Wales, playing seven matches and scoring 559 runs at an average of 62.11 with one century and six 50s. The highlight of Hughes' excellent season came in New South Wales' Pura Cup final victory over Victoria. He scored 116 off 175 balls in the Blues' second innings to help put his team in a commanding position. At 19 years of age, this innings made him the youngest-ever player to score a century in a Sheffield Shield final. Hughes was rewarded for his achievements by winning the New South Wales Rising Star Award and earning an upgrade to a full state contract for the 2008–09 season. Hughes was signed by Middlesex on a short-term contract, as cover for Murali Kartik, for the beginning of the 2009 English cricket season. He was available for the first six weeks of the season and played in three County Championship matches, all eight of Middlesex's Friends Provident Trophy group matches and the first few matches in the Panthers' defence of the Twenty20 Cup. In most other years, a contract for the opening six weeks of the season would involve playing four to six championship matches, some but not all FPT matches, and no Twenty20, but the scheduling for 2009 had to accommodate ICC World Twenty20 and the eventually-cancelled Stanford Super Series. Despite Hughes holding an Italian passport by virtue of his Italian mother, Middlesex resisted