Mervyn Hughes

Merv Hughes

Hughes in 2009
Personal information
Full name	Mervyn Gregory Hughes
Born	(1961-11-23) 23 November 1961 (age 56) Euroa, Victoria
Nickname	Fruitfly
Batting	Right-hand
Bowling	Right-arm fast
Role	Bowler
International information
National side	Australia
Test debut (cap 332)	13 December 1985 v India
Last Test	17 March 1994 v South Africa
ODI debut (cap 104)	11 December 1988 v Pakistan
Last ODI	23 May 1993 v England
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1997/98–1998/99	Australian Capital Territory
1983	Essex
1981/82–1994/95	Victoria
Career statistics
Competition Test ODI FC LA Matches 53 33 165 88 Runs scored 1,032 100 2,649 264 Batting average 16.64 11.11 17.54 8.51 100s/50s –/2 –/– –/7 –/– Top score 72* 20 72* 20 Balls bowled 12,285 1,639 34,881 4,466 Wickets 212 38 593 105 Bowling average 28.38 29.34 29.39 30.00 5 wickets in innings 7 – 21 1 10 wickets in match 1 – 3 – Best bowling 8/87 4/44 8/87 5/41 Catches/stumpings 23/– 6/– 56/– 19/–
Source: Cricinfo, 26 December 2010

Mervyn Gregory Hughes (born 23 November 1961) is a former Australian cricketer living in Melbourne. 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 1,000 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.

Hughes was born in Euroa, Victoria. He started kindergarten while at Apollo Bay and his first year at school came when the family went back to Euroa. Organized sport began in 3rd grade at Werribee. In 5th grade, he pestered his father to be allowed to join football at Werribee where he held 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."

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 him; it is now known as the Mervyn G. Hughes Oval. He was selected for Victoria in 1981–82, and made his debut against South Australia.