Golden Boy: Kim Hughes and the Bad Old Days of Australian Cricket

By Christian Ryan

Kim Hughes was one of the most majestic and daring batsmen to play for Australia in the last 40 years. Golden curled and boyishly handsome, his rise and fall as captain and player is unparalleled in our cricketing history. He played at least three innings that count as all-time classics, but it's his tearful resignation from the captaincy that is remembered. Insecure but arrogant, abrasive but charming—in Hughes' character were the seeds of his own destruction. Yet was Hughes' fall partly due to those around him, men who are themselves legends in Australia's cricketing history? Lillee, Marsh, the Chappells—all had their agendas, all were unhappy with his selection and performance as captain—evidenced by Dennis Lillee's tendency to aim bouncers relentlessly at Hughes' head during net practice. Hughes' arrival on the Test scene coincided with the most turbulent time Australian cricket has ever seen—first Kerry Packer's World Series Cricket, then the rebel tours to South Africa. Both had dramatic effects on Hughes' career. As he traces the high points and the low, Chris Ryan sheds new and fascinating light on the cricket—and the cricketers—of the times.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Allen Unwin
• Release date: Sep 1, 2010
• ISBN: 9781742691510

Reviews for Golden Boy

[miaculpa-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Once hesitant to read "Golden Boy", I took the plunge and found it one of my favourite cricket books. Written well, with humour and honesty, and getting the most out of his interviews with contemporary cricketers (Kim Hughes and most of the central figures for this book refused to be interviewed), Ryan brings us the story behind the rise and fall of Kim Hughes.There's some great comments by some of the lesser lights he interviewed and insights into some frankly odd behaviour by Australian cricket team members. If there was a complain to be made, it would be around Ryan's pro-Hughes stance and in particularly his claim that (during Hughes' stint in South Australia) the South Australian selectors ignored Hughes for reasons other than form. However, Hughes' average that season in Adelaide district cricket was about 18, so why the South Australian selectors could be blamed for ignoring him, I have no idea (they probably had no idea who he was). Apart from that quibble, a good read.