In the first part of this 2 part article I had made an attempt to bring to light 2 of the
colourful and fascinating characters to have played cricket. Over the years as
cricket got more fierce and professional on and off the field, the urge to
outwit the opposition in every possible
manner came to the forefront and it was
an added incentive for some of the temperamental characters to indulge in some
friendly banter and some sledging
tactics were also being tried especially in test cricket. In this part let us look at some more fascinating and
colourful characters .
Mervyn Hughes.- Known
as Merve Hughes to all his fellow Aussie teammates and opponents, Merve Hughes
was best described as one of the
humorous and funny characters of the game and a bowler who was known to
be a workhorse and an earnest trier. He represented Australia in 53 tests and 33 ODI’s between 1985 and 19993. He was a burly 6’4inches with
a typical handlebar moustache, a penchant for exuberant display of affection
for his fellow teammates and an uncanny tendency to talk to the opposition in
inventively colourful language which led him to be nicknamed
‘fruitfly’. A bowling run up which sometimes stretched to 45 paces and this
made him a firm favourite among crowds who often imitated his stretches during
practice sessions. The crowd often called him ‘Sumo’ when he came on to bowl Some of the occasions which displayed his typical sledging
style
1 ) After beating Graham Gooch on numerous occasions, Hughes casually told him “ i will bring the piano, lets see
whether you can play it instead.
2 ) This time another
Englishman, Robin Smith was at the receiving end of Merve Hughes, when he was
all at sea against the Aussie, Hughes retorted “ if you turn the bat backside,
you will see the instructions written.
3 ) During a tour
match in south Africa on a flat wicket
after being hit for numerous boundaries by Hansie Cronje, Merve Hughes
farted in the middle and told Cronje “ try and hit this for a boundary “.
4 ) Against Javed Miandad,
who himself was a master of sledging called him “ a fat conductor”, but the
revenge was sweet after few balls when
hughes dismissed Miandad and gave him a send off by going to him and asking him
“ tickets please “.for once even the great Javed had no answer.
Javed miandad - Javed
Miandad played for Pakistan between 1975 and 1996. He was arguably the greatest
Pakistani batsman. Miandad was always known to be a gritty fighter and some would say a bugger as
well. He was known to needle the opposition and get up their nose with his on field antics and was perhaps the only batsman in the history of
the game who is known to have sledged the bowlers on numerous occasions. He was
a complete package as far as batting was concerned, with quick silver feet he
used to score cheeky 1’s and2’s making
the opposition sweat and before they realized he was past 40 or so . Javed Miandad
was particularly good when it came to intense pressure and scored runs when the
going was tough for his team. He used to speak in an odd manner having a heavy
tongue and had the ability to irritate even the coolest of opposition players. He
was also seen as a problem player when it came to even his own teammates. Javed
would invariably start sledging the batsman when he was fielding at silly point
and would be constantly muttering something or the other to his wicket keeper. He
was the ultimate street fighter who never gave up and hated losing. Some of
Javed Miandad’s famous on field incidents.
1 ) during one the
matches in Pakistan Miandad during one
of his duals with Dilip Doshi, came down the wicket and would pat the ball with
a dead bat and say “ i should have hit that for a six “ . on another occasion,
he kept patting the ball back to Dilip Doshi and kept asking him “ Dilip what
is your hotel room number to which Dilip
being the quiet fellow he was did not reply but javed constantly kept nagging
at him and asked him the room number
almost after every ball and getting irritated Dilip finally replied and told him what for was he asking the room
number to which Javed cannily replied “ i will hit the next ball for a six in
your room.
2 ) playing against the Aussies at Melbourne in 1978-79, Rodney Hogg
gently tapped the ball to Miandad at point and Hogg took a casual stroll down
the wicket to tap the pitch, Javed sheepishly removed the bails and appealed
and the umpire had to rule Hogg run out. Hogg was not amused at all and kicked the stumps before leaving and Miandad
did not stop at it even then taunting him off to the field
3 ) in the 1981-82
WACA test, Miandad was attempting a
single and Lillee blocked him at the non strikers end and on his way back kicked javed on his
knee . javed instantly picked up his bat and followed lillee with an intention
of hitting him. This is one of the most disgraceful incidents in the history of
the game
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