Merv Hughes
Mervyn Gregory Hughes (born
23 November 1961,
Euroa, Victoria) was a mercurial fast bowler who represented
Australia between 1985 and 1994 in 53
Test matches taking 212 wickets and scoring over 1000 runs. He played 33
One Day Internationals taking 38 wickets. He took a
hat trick in Test against the
West Indies at the
WACA in 1988-89 and went on to take 8-87. In 1993 he took 31 wickets in
the Ashes Series against England.
Major teams:
Victoria,
Essex, Australian Capital Territory,
Australia 'A' (in the
World Series Cup),
Australia.
Batting style: Right-hand bat
Bowling style: Right-arm fast
Hughes physical presence (a burly 6'4"),
Fu-Manchu moustache, a penchant for exuberant displays of affection for his fellow players (they called him "Fruitfly") and a mincing run up that at times stretched to 45 paces made him a firm favourite amongst supporters. In England on his second Ashes tour in 1993, the crowd chanted "Sumo" whenever he ran into bowl.
"Big Merv" was a notorious consumer of alcohol and food. Later in his career, this was felt to have increased damage to his knees and ultimately to have led to a shortening of his Australian and Victorian playing careers. Having always been rather overweight, he participated in both seasons of
Channel Nine's
Celebrity Overhaul, to lose weight and improve his fitness. He was the top performer (weight-wise) in the first season.
Hughes started his career playing district
cricket with Footscray in 1978-79. He was selected for Victoria in 1981-82 and made his debut against South Australia. Hughes first appeared for Australia against India in 1985-1986. He took 1-123 and was not re-selected until the Ashes Series against England the following year. Throughout his career, the Australian selectors viewed Hughes as a
Test match player rather than one day player and he was generally only selected for the shorter game when another player was injured or otherwise unavailable. Hughes played his last Test in Cape Town against
South Africa in 1994.
Later on in his career Hughes undertook an ambitious stint with the Canberra Comets which turned out to be hugely unsuccessful. He claimed only a single wicket in a season.
Hughes replaced
Allan Border in June 2005 as a selector for the Australian cricket team.
Merv is a prominent supporter of the
Western Bulldogs Australian Football League team.
* Patrick Keane, in association with Merv Hughes,
Merv: the Full Story (1997)
Sledging (cricket)*
Merv Hughes's Cricinfo profile
