Cricketer Phillip Hughes was destined for Test-match greatness, says former Australian captain Steve Waugh.

“There was something about him – he knew how to make runs, he loved batting, and had that fire in the belly and you could see it in his eyes, he loved playing Test match cricket,” Waugh told Macquarie Radio on Friday.

“There was something in his eyes, that you knew straight away that the kid was special.”

Waugh said he believed Hughes, who played 26 Tests, was a “100 Test match player for Australia” and this was evident after it was revealed the 25-year-old would have been picked for Australia’s Test match against India next week.

Waugh said Hughes had a “stop-start career”, saying a lot of the time he was picked for Test teams when he was out of form and dropped when he was in form.

“It was difficult to feel established in a side.”

Waugh described Hughes as “a very uncomplicated fellow”.

He said Hughes would corner the former captain at social functions and quiz him for hours about cricket.

“You could just sense he was desperate to play for Australia.

“He wanted to gather as much knowledge as he could so that when he got to that level he was well-equipped to handle it.”

He said the boy from Macksville was very down to earth and very grounded, and that’s the way he played cricket.

“He was very unorthodox and a lot of people doubted his technique.”

Waugh likened Hughes’ playing style to that of Matthew Hayden.

“Once he felt comfortable, he would have kept scoring runs.”

Waugh said Hughes knew his own game even though he may have been pushed to doubt it at times after being dropped.

“Right now he would have been at the stage where he said `Look, I know which way to play best’ and I think he would have played a lot more Tests for Australia.

Another former Test captain Mark Taylor said from a cricketing view, it’s disappointing Hughes was unable to fulfil his potential.

In his 26 Tests, Hughes became the youngest player to score two centuries in a Test, but was also dropped several times.

“The disappointing thing I suppose from a cricket point of view is he didn’t get a chance to do what say Justin Langer and Matthew Hayden did,” Taylor told the Nine Network.

“They had similar starts in their careers, in and out of the side, making hundreds then being dropped.

“But when they finally got back at later years in their life they went on to have terrific careers and become legends of the game.

“So that’s what the cricket community has missed from Phil Hughes apart from his sense of humour and just being a damn good bloke.”