CRICKET
John Young
To hear from the man who is handing out water to the Australian cricketers at practice that he is “a little bit in awe of this team” is no surprise. When that man has 212 Test wickets to his name it rather puts the performances of Steve Waugh’s men into perspective.
Merv Hughes is remembered as a big-hearted fast bowler. Now he’s a generous ex-player with few regrets. On his final Test match eight years ago at Newlands: “I got nought and took no wickets but my mum thought I fielded well!
“When you are left out in your 30s and there is a young bowler called Glenn McGrath coming through you pretty much know it’s the end.”
Now he’s having “an absolute ball” as tour leader and says South African hospitality has been “excellent”.
His second visit to the Wanderers as a fan was much happier than the first as a player when a boorish local provoked a frustrated response from Hughes. And a big fine. He’s disappointed that he never got to tell his side of that story (“I never hit him or meant to hit him.”) but it didn’t sour his view of crowds. “That guy was just 0,001%.”
Of his latest visit, Hughes says: “It was wonderful to enjoy the team’s success at the Wanderers. They really respect the traditions of the game and I suppose treatment of past players is part of that. It was amazing that they took the time to run around the field and shake hands with me.”
Watching Matthew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist it is easy to forget that there was a time, not so long ago, when Australia were a poor cricket team. In the late 1970s, Kerry Packer took the cream and then the rebels came to South Africa, an event that Hughes wryly describes as “the best thing that happened to Australian cricket because it meant Merv Hughes got to play for Australia”.
His pride in having been part of the restoration is obvious. “I started playing in the mid-1980s in what was probably the worst side in international cricket. It was a great feeling to finish my career in a team where the only team we hadn’t beaten was the West Indies.”
Hughes is also clear about where the credit belongs: “There were three factors: Bob Simpson, Allan Border and Laurie Sawle.” Coach, captain and selection convener. “They had the courage to pick young players who were not yet proven in first-class cricket and stick with them. Some of them are household names today. Others they allowed to mature on the first-class scene. They had the happy knack of knowing which was the right formula for which player.”
To South African fans mourning the summer their team has had, Hughes’s description of the Australian rebuilding process will have resonance: “We went through a world of hurt.” He believes the current South African team needs to be mentally tougher and points out that when the chips are down, it’s the senior Australians who respond. “In the South African team, it’s the younger players who are making it happen.”
On the current Aussie team, Hughes highlights the captain: “Steve Waugh has set the tone. He is now to the team what Allan Border was. All the words you use … attitude, discipline, desire … the captain is the most respected player.”
As a player, Hughes wasn’t much of a tourist. “I always believed that as a bowler, rest days were for resting up and room service.” He’s making up for it now, with a little help from Waugh’s team. The early finish at the Wanderers gave him and his group a chance to visit Soweto and Gold Reef City and to “carve up the Wanderers golf course”.
He still has a lot of friends in the team and he’ll have a chat with the young bowlers if they ask for help. There are no airs about the third Australian to score 1 000 runs and take 200 Test wickets.
At Kingsmead he’ll be helping out where he can and hoping, as he puts it, “that I’m not a pest”.