Hughes naive, impetuous: Marsh

Press, 28 October 1982, Page 36

Hughes naive, impetuous: Marsh

NZPA Sydney Kim Hughes, the man who captained Australia in the recent disastrous tour of Pakistan, is "naive” and does not command the same respect from his team-mates that Greg Chappell gets, according to the Australian champion wicket-keeper, Rod Marsh. In an interview with Playboy magazine, Marsh said that Hughes made decisions which weren’t calculated: “Every senior player he has played with has told him to curb his impetuosity but he still hasn’t come to grips with that,” said Marsh. “In many ways he's a very naive person, and, like most of us, he works on adrenalin.

“When his adrenalin is pumping he makes decisions that aren’t calculated. Many times Kim has walked out to bat and the rest of the players have looked at one another as if to ask: ‘What’s he going to do today? “That’s not the sort of thing you need if you’re captain. The team needs to feel that the captain is going to go out and play the right way every time. It’s irrelevant if he succeeds and fails, but it’s important to feel that he’s going to play the right way.”

Marsh said there were several players he would prefer to play under and singled out Greg Chappell as a potentially “great” captain. He said Chappell’s greatest

failing was probably his demand for perfect performances but Chappell’s batting failures last season had made him realise he was fallible. “I always had the feeling those failings were going to be the making of him as a captain. It must have been a harrowing experience for him, but I feel that when he’s finished cricket he will look back on that time as the best thing that ever happened to him,” said Marsh. “I believe he (Greg Chappell) can now go on and be a great captain... if, of course, he gets the opportunity.” Marsh, however, appeared surprised yesterday when asked to comment on his

criticism of Hughes. “Oh, that interview was done a long time ago — can you read it to me?” he said after , practising with the West Australian team at the W.A.C.A. ground nets in Perth. After listening to several of the quotes attributed to him Marsh said: "I’ve got absolutely no comment.” . When Hughes was told of the criticism levelled at him by Marsh he said: ‘T’ve got enough problems at the moment and I cannot make any comment until I have read the full story. “My chief problem is to get into nick for the coming Sheffield Shield match against Victoria,” Hughes said.