Merv Hughes

Mervyn Gregory Hughes (born 23 November 1961) is a former Australian cricketer. A right-arm fast bowler, he represented Australia between 1985 and 1994 in 53 Test matches, taking 212 wickets. He played 33 One Day Internationals, taking 38 wickets. He took a hat trick in a 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. He was a useful lower-order batsman, scoring two half-centuries in tests and over 1000 runs in all. He also represented Victorian Bushrangers, Essex in English county cricket, Australian Capital Territory, Australia 'A' (in the World Series Cup), and Australia.

Childhood

Hughes was born in Euroa, Victoria. He started kindergarten while at Apollo Bay, and his first year at school came when the family was back at Euroa. Organised sport began in 3rd grade at Werribee. He pestered his father to be allowed to join the 5th Grade at Werribee at football practice and was able to hold his own, despite the fact that he was one of the smallest players when out of his age group. Hughes' enthusiasm for sport was described as "unquenchable."Patrick Keane, in association with Merv Hughes, Merv: the Full Story (Australia: HarperCollinsPublishers, 1997), page 11.

Career

Hughes started his career playing district cricket with Footscray in 1978-79. Footscray (now called Footscray-Edgewater) subsequently has had their main home ground named after...
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