Hughes suffers with dislocated shoulder

Phillip Hughes is likely to miss Australia's Test series against Pakistan in July after dislocating his left shoulder while boxing on Tuesday. He will have surgery in Melbourne next week and is expected to target the home summer before he returns.

Hughes was the reserve batsman on Australia's trip to New Zealand in March and scored an unbeaten 86 in the second innings of the first Test after replacing the injured Shane Watson. A spot in the squad to face Pakistan in England would have been his even though he is stuck behind Watson and Simon Katich in the pecking order.

His expected absence gives hope to the likes of Steven Smith, George Bailey and Usman Khawaja, who have done well on the domestic scene. The shoulder dislocated when Hughes was struck by a friend while doing boxercise training and it popped back in quickly.

He will be operated on by Dr Greg Hoy, who has worked on Ricky Ponting, Brett Lee and Shane Warne, and is likely to be out for three months. Hughes was also hoping to play in the Australia A series against Sri Lanka A in June.