Facing up: Merv Hughes

Thanks for speaking to us Merv… 

No worries mate. Sorry to keep you waiting. I’ve been at Footscray CC – I’m bowling coach and vice-president and we had a bowlers’ meeting down there tonight. 

Was that at the Mervyn G Hughes Oval?

It’s always good to tell the young blokes that they are on my ground and that they are privileged – although I’m not sure they listen.

Can you tell us about your childhood?

Mum was from Euroa (population of about 3,000) in Victoria, so we lived there for a while. Dad was a teacher so we moved around a bit, though. We ended up in Werribee, where I played most of my junior sport – cricket, Aussie Rules, basketball and tennis…

With your height I expect you were good at basketball?

My height was OK but I didn’t quite have the pace and skill!

What did you do after school?

I worked in a clothing factory, in a menswear store, then a sports one which was entertaining. Then a warehouse selling stationery. I was playing cricket for Footscray, and that form helped me play for Victoria. I was in and out of the side for a few years, and had a few injuries, so decided to give Aussie Rules away to give myself a chance with the cricket. I was able to produce better performances…

Who taught you to bowl?

My father had a big impact in junior cricket. He played a lot of sport, I worshipped the ground he walked on. He was fiery and competitive. I learnt a lot of that from him. At Footscray Ron Gaunt (three Tests for Australia) taught me a lot, then when head coach Ian Redpath came in at Victoria he brought in Keith Stackpole (43 Tests) and Alan Connolly (29) as bowling coaches. They were great.

You came to Essex in 1983…

Yes. it was on an ESSO scholarship. I lived with Jack Leiper (ex-Essex) and his family, and played cricket for Woodford Wells (Robbie Kerr, Mike Haysman and Greg Matthews were also over on the scheme). I played for Essex 2nds with Mike Denness as captain. Just to talk tactics and cricket with him was fantastic: I reckon he got sick of me after four months! The boys took me to an England footy match against Denmark at Wembley, and we went into London quite a lot – I liked Covent Garden. And for the record, all those Essex girl jokes are unwarranted!

^{Hughes' induction into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame at the MCG}

You had a rather tough Test debut against India at Adelaide (1985/86)…

People ask if I could ever forget my first Test match… and unfortunately no matter how hard I try, I’ll never be able to! One for 123, a fifth-ball duck and two dropped catches. At least I did get Dilip Vengsarkar out.

You had to wait a year for another Test cap, then encountered Botham at Brisbane…

I went to one of his coaching clinics up country in Victoria. I have a real appetite for knowledge, and as a 14/15-year-old I went up to Mr Botham and said: “What hints have you got for me?” And he looked at me and said: “Play tennis and golf, it’s a lot more enjoyable, and there’s a lot more money in it.”

Then after he got his century (138) and that well-documented 22 off one over off me, plastering me all around the Gabba, he came out of the dressing room, and asked me how I was getting on, and I said: “How do you reckon I’m getting on?!” I said: “You probably won’t remember this but in 1976 you did a coaching clinic in Benalla.” And he said: “Yes, I do remember that… what information did I give you?” And I told him. And he said: “You should have listened to me then!” and walked back into the dressing room. While the Ashes Tests were very competitive, most of the time it was all very civil off the ground.

Your breakthrough Test was against West Indies at Perth in 1988/89 – 13 for 217 and a hat-trick…

Well it was personal success, but I was gutted that we lost. Geoff Lawson had his jaw broken while batting. When your other bowlers are Tim May, Tony Dodemaide and Steve Waugh, you are going to bowl a few overs in the second innings. If Geoff hadn’t been injured, I’d have bowled 22–24 overs, but bowling half the overs (37 out of 98) was going to give me the chance to take half of the wickets. My dad always taught me that you can’t take wickets if you are not bowling.

If the captain throws you the ball, mate, you are never too tired. I got lucky that day (8 for 87), against the might of the West Indies – that top five: Desmond Haynes, Gordon Greenidge, Viv Richards, Carl Hooper and Richie Richardson. Great satisfaction, but I was sad we lost the series: [match figures of] 13 for 113 would have been a lot better!

You’re not one of these bowlers who said they could only do six or seven overs at a time then…

No, but it was a different time then. The guys play more cricket now, and they are under workload restrictions, and they’ve got to be, playing Test, one-day and T20 cricket. They play 12 months a year, and that didn’t happen when we played. You just bowled until you were tired.

You did well against West Indies in 1992/93 as well – 20 wickets at 21 apiece in the series…

We thought we had a chance that time, as West Indies had lost a few of their better players. We weren’t far away, but we fell a bit short. To bowl well against the best – and West Indies were the best – was satisfying. 

Tell us about your two Ashes in England, 1989 and ’93…

1989 was my first tour with Australia. To England. It doesn’t get much better than that. We got slagged as the worst team ever to be picked for Australia, but most of the team had been together for a few years, since the 1987 World Cup win. We were growing into a good side. In 1988/89 we got players back from the rebel tour to South Africa. When you are going to England and you have players by the name of Terry Alderman, Carl Rackemann and Trevor Hohns in your side, that makes a difference.

'I was going to be fined a thousand dollars for every kilo I put on. On that flight I had three bottles of water and a stick of celery; but I was cheering Boonie on'

Carl got injured early on, and if he hadn’t I may not have played. Terry and Geoff Lawson could not have helped me any more: such great advice and leadership. Terry took 41 wickets – he didn’t just have a grip on Graham Gooch – and Lawson 29. On that trip Allan Border changed his attitude completely. That came after the Boxing Day Test at Melbourne in 1986/87 when we got wiped by England inside three days. AB said I’m sick of being a nice bloke, and running second. I’d rather be seen as a p**** and win some games. Bob Hawke’s comment about why the cricketers at the MCG couldn’t be more like Pat Cash in the Davis Cup hurt him. AB threw his can in the corner. That was the line in the sand.

Was it hard not to talk to David Gower, Botham and co?

Nah, not for me. I hadn’t played a lot of cricket. We played club cricket and Shield… as Steve Waugh said, we go harder at each other than we go against the opposition. There were a lot of things said and done in that two-year period to change the mentality. We gained confidence and credibility.

Then in 1993, under AB again, to go back as one of the more senior players was great, to have younger players around you – Damien Martyn, Michael Slater and Matthew Hayden – Hayden and Martyn didn’t play a Test but made 1,000 runs or thereabouts each on the tour. Pressure was on for places. When Craig McDermott went down with a twisted bowel in the second Test that ended his tour. We didn’t replace him. Paul Reiffel and Brendon Julian came in and did their bit, and Wayne Holdsworth bowled bloody quick and scared the guys in the first-class games.

Which reminds me, 1989, the flight over – David Boon: was it 52, 53 or 58 tinnies?

Legend and myth! People say 52 – that couldn’t be further from the truth – it was 53! I was under a bit of a cloud because of weight issues. We had a training camp in Melbourne, and I was told for every kilo I put on, I was going to be fined a thousand dollars. On that flight over I reckon I had three bottles of water and a stick of celery; but I was in the gallery and I was cheering him on. I didn’t have a beer until the second one-day game.

Your famous sledging – stump mics would stop all that now, wouldn’t they?

I might have got a few fines! But you don’t judge people for what they did 30 years ago by today’s standards. You judge them by the standards of the time: if it wasn’t acceptable, we wouldn’t have done it. We played a tough brand of cricket, and we were more and more together. AB took a leaf out of the opposition book, the West Indies blueprint, and went very hard at the opposition captain, and the tail. If the bottom four makes 30, 40, 50 runs that could be the difference in the game.

Gone were the days when we pitched them up at you, and you did the same for us. When they came out to bat, they should not want to be there. I hold Athers in high regard. He was one of the toughest competitors I have played against. He came in midway through 1989, his performances were outstanding. I have a truckload of respect for him. He wrote in an article after 1993 saying that I didn’t seem to respect the way he played because of the way I went at him, and I thought: “Mate, you have no idea.” If I didn’t respect the way you played, I wouldn’t have gone after you. We saw him as a real threat. You pick your targets. In ’93 I was one of the senior players, I had a lot of self-belief, and we went hard at him and Graeme Hick, senior players and they’d played against better cricketers than I was ever going to be. Athers stood up. I loved the fight and attitude that Michael Atherton showed.

^{Hughes and David Boon arriving in London before the 1993 Ashes}

Are the famous sledges true – when Javed Miandad called you a fat bus conductor and you dismissed him and said ‘tickets please’? Or the Viv one (Richards is alleged to have said: “Man this is my island, my culture. Don’t you be staring at me like that.” Merv dismissed Richards and remarked: “Mate, in our culture we just tell you to f*** off”)?

There’s a hazy line between legend and truth, but I’ll claim them all and see how we go. When it comes to Viv, any sledging stories were myth and legend, because if a bowler had any sense, he wasn’t saying anything to Viv Richards. That was a cheap shot, after he was out, not while he was batting (an admission then! Ed). You have to back yourself. In England you call it chirping, in Australia it’s sledging, within the Australian team we called it verbal intimidation.

You pick your mark, you go hard at people you think won’t be able to handle that side of it. Ultimately it’s just a distraction – they are more worried about what you are saying than what you are doing, and then you have a win. You just knew that doing it to the more experienced guys, Gooch, Gower and Gatting, you just knew it was going to be a waste of time, the same with Richards, Richardson, Greenidge and Haynes. We didn’t say much to the West Indies for good reason.

How did you enjoy being a selector?

It was great to be involved at the top level for five more years, I enjoyed every minute of it. I served alongside guys I played cricket with: AB, Hohns, Boonie, Andrew Hilditch, and Jamie Cox later. I played a lot of Test and state cricket with those guys. We knew each other, and had a common goal: pick the best team. Some of the guys picked are still playing now so we must have got some right.

Do you like English beer?

Yeah, I didn’t mind it. That Budweiser is a good English beer! In 1983 the novelty of imported beer hadn’t happened in England. We just drank what was on tap. I preferred the lager to the bitter, but I drank a bit of both. A few Italian and German beers were on tap and not bad. 

You’ve had a few dalliances in the world of entertainment, appearing on Hale and Pace in 1996…

They were cricket tragics, I watched them on telly and they were funny. To be asked to do a skit with them was great. It was a shame it was just a cameo. 

And then reality TV…

I did Celebrity Overhaul twice: that was health, fitness and weight-loss. I did two stints: I lost a heap of weight, put it back on; then I did it again: lost it again, put it on again. I did the first I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here in Australia (2015). I felt slighted, I wasn’t even as popular as an English cricketer, because Freddie Flintoff won it! That was a smack in the mouth for me – it’s just wrong.

How long have you had your famous moustache?

I had a few cracks at it, but they were ordinary attempts. I looked like a poor man’s Johnny Holmes. I’ve had this one since 1985, though. I went on a four-and-a-half-month trip when I stopped playing footy. We went up the east coast, to Darwin, and down the centre, and shaving wasn’t high on the agenda. I came back with a mop of hair and a fully grown beard like Grizzly Adams. My local hairdresser clipped the beard away and left the moustache there. I liked it and thought I’d have a bit of fun with this. I’m not saying sportsmen are superstitious, but when things started going well you don’t want to change things. I broke into the Victoria side, then got in the Australia side! It looked like a horseshoe, and they are supposed to be lucky, so I thought I might keep it.

I hear you are a Spurs fan?

Yes because I was at Woodford – it’s hard to go against your team-mates. Spurs are always in the mix. I keep asking, “Is Gary (sic) Hoddle around the place?” and “Is Redknapp still in charge?” I follow their scores. There’s always next year!

How have you found lockdown?

People try to fight the restrictions. If you are not making the rules, follow them. How are we supposed to eliminate Covid if people are not doing what they are supposed to do? I feel for you guys with a big population, but please, let’s get rid of this thing, and just follow the rules!

The Super Over

Favourite film? 

Tombstone, the old Western, about Wyatt Earp and the OK Corral (1993, starring Kurt Russell and Val Kilmer). I was also in Fat Pizza (2003), as Ivan Milat. Those boys are very funny people, but very politically incorrect.

Favourite music? 

I love my Aussie music: Mental As Anything, Australian Crawl, INXS, Jo Jo Zep and the Falcons, and Joe Cavaliere. I also like Fleetwood Mac. My father only ever used to have two tapes in the car – ABBA and Meatloaf, so I know their songs well.

Who would be at your dream dinner party?

I’d want to invite everyone. Hmmm, OK. Your readers will have to Google all the AFL footballers: Dougie Hawkins, Scottie Wynd and Chris Grant (all Western Bulldogs). AB would be the first on the list. And ‘Greedy’ Smith, lead singer of Mental As Anything. Sadly he died last year, but I’d resurrect him.

This article was published in the March edition of The Cricketer - the home of the best cricket analysis and commentary, covering the international, county, women's and amateur game