HOBART: Phil Hughes unfurled a couple of new shots in his comeback Test knock of 86 against Sri Lanka in Friday’s Hobart series opener in his efforts towards remaining in the Australian team.

Hughes narrowly missed out on a restorative century in his Test recall to offer early evidence that he has overcome the technical shortcomings that led to his sacking.

The compact left-hander showed more patience and greater shot selection at the third Test recall, batting for 221 minutes and hitting eight fours and a slog-sweep six. He showed enough improvement in his technique to raise hopes that he may yet become a Test regular for Australia.

“It was nice to get a few, it would have been nice to get three-figures,” he said.