On the ground as a sub fielder during game eight of the World Series against the West Indies in 1989, Merv Hughes was praying that the ball heading straight for him crunched by Roger Harper would go over the fence for six.
“I started running around towards the long boundary and mate, I was hoping like hell it was going for six because I had no chance of catching it,” Hughes recalls.
“Then, out of the corner of his eye, Merv caught a glimpse of a steaming Steve Waugh running towards the ball.
“If someone managed to capture my face at the time it would have shown relief! I was still running hard and we were getting very close to the boundary when I quite deliberately yelled, ‘Yours!’ I must admit I still thought it was going over at the time.”
Waugh took the ball after a perfectly timed 30-metre dash from mid-off, with Hughes being the first to congratulate him after he emerged from behind the sight-screen.
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