Merv Hughes, the man memorably described as "all bristle and bullshit" by Mike Atherton, has been sacked from Australia's board of selectors. Hughes had been in the role for more than five years but was dropped as Cricket Australia reviewed its selection process after the recent appointment of the former captain Greg Chappell as the national talent manager. Chappell is Australia's first full-time selector, and is part of a four-man panel with the chairman, Andrew Hilditch, and the two former batsmen David Boon and Jamie Cox.
"Andrew [Hilditch] was clear in his assessment that Merv had been a good selector and a strong contributor around the selection table but that Cox, Boon and Chappell were the better options to continue on the panel," said the Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland."
For all their valedictory praise, Cricket Australia felt that there was a conflict of interest between Hughes's role as a selector and his other job as a group leader for cricket fans on package tours. According to some reports Hughes does not subscribe to cable TV and so could only watch overseas tour matches if he was at the ground in person, so his job as a tour guide must also have had its benefits for his work as a selector. Apparently Cricket Australia did not see it that way.
"At the end of the day, the decision's been made and I got the rissole," Hughes told the Melbourne Age. Typically, he was also able to see the positives. "I got a few lures for Father's Day for the fishing reels and I'm looking forward to getting them wet now that I'll have a little bit more time on my hands to catch that elusive cod, maybe pick up a snapper in the bay."
The Australian selectors have struggled to settle into their work since the slew of retirements that hit the Test team in 2007. In the last three years they have given Test debuts to 18 new players, compared to only eight in the three years before that. After a 2-0 series defeat in India the Test team have slipped to fifth on the ICC rankings. Chappell was appointed for the newly created job in August in an effort to bring more stability to the selection process.
"Merv has provided valuable input and expertise to the national selection panel during the past five years and Cricket Australia thanks him for his contribution during this time," Sutherland said.