Merv Hughes rips 'moron' Piers Morgan over Ashes furore
The AUstralian fast bowling legend levelled a bumper at Piers Morgan over British TV host's Ashes theatrics.
Australian bowling legend Merv Hughes has labelled British TV host Piers Morgan a 'moron' after the controversial personality took to Twitter to declare that no Australian players or journalists were willing to discuss Jonny Bairstow's dismissal in the second Ashes Test on his show. Morgan has been at the centre of the furore, eventually being joined on his program by veteran cricket writer Peter Lalor.
While Morgan was given a much-needed dose of reality about the situation by Lalor, eventually conceding that it was 'stupid' of Bairstow to leave his crease before the umpires called over, he was subsequently clipped by Hughes, who revealed he had turned down an invitation to discuss it. Hughes has been a rare Australian voice to speak out against wicketkeeper Alex Carey's opportunistic stumping, but said on Queensland radio that he had no interest in indulging Morgan's 'attention-seeking'.
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Australia were accused of being cheats by a rabid English press in the days following the dismissal at Lord's, itself ironically the home of the club which wrote the rules of the game under which Bairstow was dismissed. Hughes was amused by the situation, saying 'life is pretty good' if someone like Morgan was attempting to score points off you.
“Life’s pretty good, when you jump on social media and you see some moron like Piers Morgan having a crack at you,” Hughes told SENQ. “A producer of his show asked me privately if I wanted to go on his show (to discuss the Bairstow incident) and I declined respectfully and said ‘no I don’t want to’ and then he puts it to social media. Like I said, he’s an attention-seeker and a flog.”
In Hughes' stead, Morgan had something of a difficult time convincing Lalor that Australia had committed a crime against the unwritten rules of cricket. His comparisons to Trevor Chappell's infamous underarm delivery in 1981 fell flat, particularly after saying it happened in '91, while his references to the uglier style of cricket employed by the Aussies in the early 2010s also earned him little sympathy.
Asked if he was comfortable with the dismissal, Lalor said he was '100%, unequivocally', before reminding Morgan that a series of England greats, including the likes of Michael Vaughan, Michael Atherton, Nasser Hussain and Andrew Strauss, had put Bairstow's wicket down to carelessness on his part.
“It was out … and he was, from a cricketing perspective, stupid, I don’t disagree with any of that," Morgan conceded, however he rejected Lalor's argument about Bairstow attempting the same thing against Marnus Labuschagne earlier in the Test. He said that since the Australian no.3 had taken a batting stance outside the crease, it was therefore fair game.
Piers Morgan reminds Aussie fans of amusing Brett Lee incident
Bairstow's act of scraping his boot before setting off down the pitch was the key difference for Morgan, putting him at odds with the MCC's rules for cricket. Morgan's references to the spiteful 2013-14 Ashes series in Australia, which inexplicably saw him facing up to a recently retired Brett Lee in the nets in order to prove some sort of point, also proved more amusing than persuasive.
“You talk about the Spirit of Cricket, the Spirit of Cricket talks about accepting the authority of the umpire,” Lalor said. “Of creating a positive atmosphere in the way you play.
“I think English cricket owes Australia an apology – (there was) absolute hooliganism at Lord’s. By the members and by the public, and it’s been spurred on by your team, to cover up for the fact that they’re 2-0 down in the Ashes.”
Morgan referenced his visit that summer in response to those comments from Lalor. He said fans had flocked to the nets at lunch purely to see him become a victim of Lee's bowling - a curious stance considering nobody was actually forcing him to do so.
“I was there in 2013-14, where a baying mob were baying for blood – at one stage they were baying for my blood, in a net against Brett Lee!” he said.
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