Hughes clarifies remarks

Having already created quite a reaction by claiming it was friendships that lost Australia the Ashes, former Australian bowler Merv Hughes has clarified his comments by saying there’s nothing wrong with players on opposite sides forming friendships but that they should be left on the boundary when players set foot on the field to face off against one another.

The Victorian, known almost as well for his moustache and belligerent on-field attitude as for his 212 Test wickets and 1032 runs, uses the relationship between Hampshire team-mates Kevin Pietersen and Shane Warne in last year’s Ashes and between Brett Lee and Andrew Flintoff in the same series as examples. Pietersen, he says, due to his friendship with Warne felt comfortable rather than intimidated facing one of the game’s all-time greats last year, while Lee and Flintoff shared a tough rivalry in the series in which both players produced numerous brilliant performances and shared in one of the series’s enduring moments shortly after England’s nailbiting win at Edgbaston.

He says it is natural for a player to be a completely different player on the field than off it, terrifying a batsman with a barrage of bouncers one moment and then just hours later sharing a drink with the same individual.