Merv Hughes - Merv Hughes 104 Cricket Legends: Stories, mostly true, about the games greats

Many people have helped me give this account of my legends of the game. Claire Kingston and Sue Hines have shown the patience of openers on a green Gabba pitch. Angela Handley and Clare James have performed with aplomb. Many thanks to Alexia Pettenon. Thanks to Sam Giannopoulos for taking me on and for his support and advice. Thanks to Peta and Gary for putting up with me trying to bowl left-handed in the backyard. Most of all, thank you Sue, Maddy, Tim and Scott for everything.

I have used a number of sources for this book. Jack Pollards The Complete Illustrated History of Australian Cricket continues to stand the test of time. Encyclopedia of Australian Cricket Players by Ken Piesse and Charles Davis is a wonderful publication, and www.espncricinfo.com is a detailed and authoritative source. I have checked details as closely as possible. Any errors are Thommos.

Merv Hughes made his Test debut in 1985 against India. He took one for 123 and made a duck. Surprisingly, he went on to play 53 Tests and 33 one-day internationals for Australia. In the Test arena, Merv took 212 wickets and scored 1032 runs, becoming the third Australian to take more than 200 wickets and make more than 1000 runs. He joined Ray Lindwall and Richie Benaud with that feat. When he retired, he was the tenth most successful Australian wicket taker in the history of the game.

He played all of his Tests with Allan Border as captain. In 1988/89 against the West Indies he took eight wickets in the second innings and thirteen wickets for the match. He was a member of the 1989 Ashes team that regained the Ashes in England for the first time since 1934. After the end of his playing career, he served as a national selector during Australias latest rebuilding phase.

Australian sportsmen are known worldwide for their hilarious and, quite frankly, inspired sledges. Over the years, there have been some classic lines uttered on a variety of sporting fields and arenas, whether its across the cricket pitch or on the footy field.

Merv Hughes Best Sporting Insults is the ultimate collection of sporting insults, brought together by a man with a reputation for his humorous witticisms and cutting sledges.

Paperback: ISBN 978 1 74237 519 9

Also available as an ebook: ISBN 978 1 74269 206 7

Tricky word, legend. Could mean a story so fantastic that it is almost unbelievable. A story that is passed down from generation to generationa bit like stories about cricket and cricketers. Sometimes legend can mean hero. Legend can also be another word for foot.

However you use it, there are more than a hundred legends in this book. Cricketers who I think are legends. Who qualify for the title because of what they have done and how they did it and also because of the impact they had on me. I was the 332nd player to play Test cricket for Australia when I made my debut in 1985, 108 years after the first Test match. It is a rare privilege and only happens because of a mixture of many things: accidents of genetics, circumstance, opportunity and luck, most of which are out of the control of the individual. There are many, many players who had the application and the character to make it to a higher level but, for one of these many reasons, couldnt or didnt. Thats why I regard a champion as someone who plays the game for the games sake, who loves the aggression of a competitive situation, who responds positively under pressure and who does everything they can to get the very best out of themselves for the sake of the team. No matter what level they play at. I discovered cricket, learnt how to play the game, played with and against and was taught how to get the best out of myself by the many champions I have met through cricket. These people are my legends.

They all, in some way or another, had an influence on the cricketer that I became. Or they might be the reason I continue to do what I can to stay involved in cricket. Or they might be the other sort of legend: the fantastic story. Some of the stories might even be true.

They say that a batsman can tell you the details of every innings hes played. A bowler can tell you about every wicket hes taken, and every catch dropped by a batsman. Some players can remember a lot of details about the performances of their teammates too, and, sometimes, opponents. When I was thinking about this book, and checking some of my facts, I discovered that some of my memories were indeed very accurate. Checking the statistics also showed me that stats dont always tell the full story. Sometimes they miss almost all of the story. Sure, poor players never have outstanding career numbers. Great players do. But often, players who had a huge impact on their teams performance may not have great figures either: bowlers bowl in pairs; they bowl to instructions; they put pressure on batsmen and others take the wickets. Batsmen make sacrifices too: they set up games by taking risks; bat in various conditions. The numbers dont always tell the story.

Thats why Ive gathered together these legends. Because of the stories. I played Test cricket for nine years but have spent all of my life learning about cricket. Ive been taught by some remarkable people. Teammates, coaches, opponents. Players past and present. Most of them have some common characteristics. A lot of them are good blokes. Many of them you will recognise. And there are many others who arent included here. But when you pick a side, you can only pick eleven. Its the same with legends: you can only pick 104. So some legends didnt make it. Tommy Stevenson in particular was unlucky. My state coaches Alan Connolly, Keith Stackpole and Ian Redpath all had a huge impact on my thinking about cricket as I tried to make my way at first-class level.

Mum and Dad, who are both very competitive sportspeople, always supported me. Dad was a fiery fast bowler and an obstinate, determined batsman. He was a great teacher because he showed, he didnt tell. From when I was very young he put me into situations where I could watch cricketers train and play. But he was always reluctant to come to the MCG to watch me play. These days, watching my own kids, Maddy, Tim and Scott, play, I get more nervous than when I played. Perhaps thats how it was with Dad. But if ever I was going through a bad patch, he would show me videotapes of my delivery when I was bowling well, and he would identify the technical aspects that had changed for the worse. So he was watching!

This collection is not intended as a statistical reference. I have included career statistics when they illustrate some part of the story. Usually Test and One Day International (ODI) career numbers. Occasionally Twenty20 International figures. For some players, their first-class statistics are more relevant. The format is: number of matches; years of play at that level; runs scored and highest innings; wickets taken and best bowling figures for an innings; number of catches. First-class statistics include Test performances.

David Boon

Having played a lot of cricket against David Boon before I got into the Australian team I was always impressed by his strength of character. It didnt matter if it was a green seamer or a flat track, he would just get in behind the ball. I would hit him and hit him and he wouldnt complain, didnt show any pain. He was unflappable. You couldnt flap him. He just had his routine where he would walk down the pitch, tap it, wipe the bottom of the bat, face up, then shuffle his front pad with his left hand. When you played against him you hated it. But when you played with him you just loved it. Watching from the rooms, you were just waiting for it: Oh there it is, minds on the job.