Aussie cricket opener Twitters his axing

Australian Test opener Phillip Hughes has confirmed his dumping from the third Ashes Test side on his Twitter page on Thursday.

The Australian selectors have dumped the little left-hander following his troubles with the short ball against England's pace attack in the opening two Tests.

It is a dramatic fall from favour for Hughes considering just three Test innings ago he had made a spectacular start to his career by scoring 415 runs in his opening three Tests in South Africa.

Not to mention his short but prolific stint for English county side Middlesex that only ended two months ago and impressive first class record in Australia.

But scores of 36, 4 and 17 and uncertainty against the rising delivery have led to his sudden demotion.

"Disappointed not to be on the field with the lads today, will be supporting the guys, it's a BIG test match 4 us," he wrote on his Twitter page.

"Thanks 4 all the support!"

He is tipped to be replaced by Shane Watson in the side.

The 20-year-old Hughes' dropping is hardly a life sentence as the the likes of Don Bradman, Shane Warne, Ricky Ponting and Glenn McGrath were all axed early on in their career.

But Hughes certainly needs to develop a hook and pull shot to counter-attack the short pitch delivery that the likes of Andrew Flintoff have peppered him with in this series.

The move is also the first sign of panic from an Australian side trailing 1-0 in the series before the third Test starting later on Thursday.

The match's scheduled start at 11am local time (10pm NZ time) was delayed because of a wet outfield.

Hughes said on Tuesday that he expected to play in the crucial Birmingham clash and had been comfortable with the way he had dealt with the short ball.

"Yeah I am," he told FoxSports News.

"That is how I have always played and I am not going to change things halfway through a series and I won't.

"There are things that I am adapting to and a couple of little things I want to change but as a perspective I am happy."

But clearly selectors thought otherwise.

- AAP