Kim Hughes
Kimberley John Hughes is a former cricketer who played for Western Australia, Natal and Australia. He captained Australia in 28 Test matches between 1979 and 1984 before captaining a rebel Australian team in a tour of South Africa, a country which at the time was subject to a sporting boycott opposing apartheid.
A right-handed batsman, Hughes was seen to possess an orthodox and attractive batting style. He was identified as a potential Test cricketer from an early age, but his impetuous style of batting, and personality clashes with influential teammates and opponents such as Dennis Lillee and Rod Marsh, saw a later introduction to first-class and Test cricket than anticipated. During the split between the establishment Australian Cricket Board and the breakaway World Series Cricket, Hughes stayed with the establishment.
Hughes' captaincy record with Australia was hindered by a succession of matches being played away from home and the necessity to rebuild an inexperienced team after the frequent absence, and later the retirement, of several senior players. Placed under extreme pressure by the media and former teammates during a series of losses to the then dominant cricket team in the world, West Indies, Hughes resigned from the captaincy, making an emotional and tearful speech. He finished his career playing cricket in South Africa.
After his playing career, Hughes for a time acted as the chairman of selectors for the Western Australian Cricket Association, and is an occasional commentator for ABC Radio's cricket coverage.
Early life
Hughes was born on 26 January 1954, at Margaret River, Western Australia, the first child of father Stan, a school teacher, and mother Ruth. The Hughes family lived in nearby Kudardup, where Stan was in charge of the one-teacher school. Stan's profession would take the Hughes family across much of the south-west of Western Australia, including postings at Ballidu, Pinjarra and Geraldton. The Hughes family settled in the Geraldton suburb of Wonthella and Hughes attended the local Allendale Primary School, where his father was the headmaster.In Geraldton, the young Hughes played a variety of sports, including hockey, tennis and especially Australian rules football. His boyhood hero was Austin Robertson, Jr. who played for Subiaco Football Club, the club that Hughes' father had played for as a young man. His first organised cricket was as an 11-year old, filling in for the Bluff Point Cricket Club under-16 side. Aged 11, he was selected for a Geraldton under-16 representative side to compete in the junior "Country Week" tournament in the state capital of Perth, where his teammates included Geoff Gallop, later Premier of Western Australia. He was selected in the Geraldton Country Week team again the following year. It was at this tournament that Hughes' performances playing against much older boys saw him come to the attention of cricket administrators.
After Hughes finished primary school, the family moved to Perth. Hughes attended City Beach High School and played cricket for the Floreat Park Under-16 side. In his final season at junior level Hughes scored 555 runs at an average of 46 and took 28 wickets at an average of 6, and was included in the Western Australia Colts squad. The next season, aged 15, Hughes made his first grade debut for Subiaco-Floreat Cricket Club, captained by former Test player Des Hoare; Hughes made 36 runs. In January 1970, Hughes was selected to play for Western Australia in the national under-19 carnival. His captain, Ric Charlesworth, later described Hughes as "the most gifted junior cricketer I ever saw. No one else comes close." Later that season Hughes made his first century in first grade cricket, against Midland-Guildford; he finished the season topping the club batting averages.
Cricket career
Club cricket and first-class debut
After only nine first grade games, in 1970–71 Hughes was included in the Western Australian Sheffield Shield squad. Described at the time by Test wicket-keeper Rod Marsh as "a technically perfect batsman", the Perth press speculated he might even make his first-class cricket debut later that season. Instead, Hughes suffered from the "second-year blues" and struggled for runs, averaging only 23 for the season. He was unable to break out of the slump for the next two seasons, finding himself out of the state squad. During this time he managed to retain selection in the state colts team, in one match against the Victorian colts scoring a dashing 97 before being caught on the boundary attempting to reach his century with a six. It would be four years after his maiden first grade century that Hughes would make his second, against North Perth.In 1973–74, Hughes was called up to the Western Australian squad. He acted as twelfth man in three successive matches, but was unable to break into the playing XI due to the strong Western Australian batting line-up. Impatient to play at first-class level, Hughes left for Adelaide mid-season to try his luck at gaining selection for South Australia, whose batting was not as strong. He played for East Torrens Cricket Club and awaited an invitation to play for South Australia; he was not even invited to train with the state squad. His South Australian experiment unsuccessful, Hughes—disappointed and homesick—returned to Western Australia.
Hughes was captain-coach of North Perth Cricket Club for the 1975–76 season. He finally broke into the Western Australian team in November 1975, making his first-class debut against New South Wales at the WACA Ground. In an innings described by New South Wales bowler Dave Hourn as the "best and most dynamic innings" he had seen in first-class cricket, Hughes continually stepped down the pitch to hit the bowling, even to the pace bowling of Len Pascoe. He was dismissed for 119, ending a partnership of 205 runs with Rob Langer. He was the fifth Western Australian batsman to make a century on first-class debut for the state. Later that season, Hughes scored a second century, against Clive Lloyd's touring West Indians. In his first season for Western Australia, Hughes made 494 runs at an average of 32.93.
In the winter of 1976, Hughes played as a professional for Watsonians Cricket Club, a team based around former students of George Watson's College in Edinburgh. Hughes would later call this period "possibly the best six months of my life."
Test debut
Playing for Western Australia against the touring Pakistan team in December 1976, Hughes made 137 runs from only 167 balls, making a claim to the attention of the national selectors. The Australian reported that "arely has a batsman of his limited experience been seen in a more majestic performance". A few weeks later, Hughes was called up as twelfth man for Australia in the New Year's Test match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Substituting on the field for Ian Davis, he injured his shoulder attempting to catch Imran Khan. Missing the rest of the Pakistan matches, Hughes was included in the Australian team to tour New Zealand. Hughes, again suffering from homesickness, did not play in either of the two Tests.Four weeks after marrying his girlfriend, Hughes left for England as a member of the 1977 Australian team. The tour was an unhappy one for the Australian team, losing the series three Tests to nil to England and the embryonic World Series Cricket concept caused rifts between the team members. Hughes did not play much cricket early in the tour; Wisden Cricketers' Almanack saying that he was "kept in such idleness that might have claimed restraint of trade." He was selected to make his Test debut in the fifth Test, after the series had already been decided. Hughes, bitter about his treatment by the tour selectors, was unhappy. Hughes told a reporter congratulating him about his upcoming Test debut "Those pricks, know they have made me part of their failure". In an uncharacteristic performance, Hughes faced thirty-four deliveries before he made his first run. It was the only run he made that innings, before he was dismissed by Mike Hendrick. Hughes' teammate Geoff Dymock later said, "They threw to the wolves."
World Series Cricket years
World Series Cricket divided the Australian team into two camps; those who had signed lucrative contracts with Kerry Packer's rebel group and those, like Hughes, who had remained with the establishment Australian Cricket Board. Hughes' boyhood idol, Austin Robertson Jr, acted as Packer's agent, signing players to the new cricket venture, eventually signing 13 of the 17 players who toured England; Hughes was a notable omission. Robertson claims that he did not approach Hughes about a WSC contract; Hughes claims that he was approached but indicated his unwillingness. In September 1977, Hughes made clear his attachment to traditional cricket in a statement.The first season of the divide saw the ACB bring the 41-year-old Bob Simpson out of retirement to captain the Australians against the touring Indians. Hughes fell one run short of a century against the tourists for Western Australia, but missed out on selection for the first Test at the Gabba in Brisbane; instead he was named as twelfth man. Hughes was chosen for the second Test at the WACA Ground in Perth, where he made 28 in the first innings and a duck in the second. He was omitted for the third Test in Melbourne, but returned for the fourth Test in Sydney. At the Sydney Cricket Ground Hughes made 17 and 19, with Bishan Bedi dismissing him on both occasions. Again, Hughes was left out of the Australian team; at this stage he had not played two Test matches consecutively. At the end of the summer, Ian Chappell wrote Hughes "is still a long way off from realising anything like that potential."
Hughes travelled to the Caribbean as a member of the Australian cricket team to play the West Indies in 1978. During the first match on tour against the Leeward Islands at Basseterre, Saint Kitts, Hughes suffered from appendicitis and had his appendix removed. The wound became infected and Hughes had to beg team management to be allowed to remain on the tour. Despite his later recovery, he did not play any of the Tests; his personality and attitude to the game did not meet with the approval of the captain, Simpson. A reporter wrote at the time, "Kim Hughes is the most frustrated, disillusioned young man in the West Indies today and with good reason. Never, at any stage, has Simpson considered Hughes a Test prospect."
Mike Brearley led his English team to Australia in 1978–79 on the back of his victory over the Greg Chappell-led Australians in 1977. With Simpson standing down from international cricket, Graham Yallop was the new Australian captain, leading an inexperienced Australian team, with only Gary Cosier having played over 10 Tests before the series began; Hughes had only played three Tests. The Australians were no match for the experienced England team, losing the series and the Ashes five Tests to one. Playing in all six Tests, Hughes scored 345 runs at an average of 28.75; only Yallop scored more runs in what was a poor batting performance by Australia. Hughes' only century came in the first Test at Brisbane. Having been bowled out for 116, in their first innings, Australia had lost three wickets for only 49 runs in the second innings when Hughes joined Yallop at the crease. Yallop and Hughes scored 170 runs in partnership before Yallop was dismissed for 102. Hughes continued on and was the last Australian wicket to fall, top-scoring with 129, his maiden Test century. While England won the match by seven wickets, Hughes and Yallop at least made the Australian effort look respectable.