The 1980s Aussie cricket feud between Dennis Lillee, Rod Marsh and Kim Hughes

The Mitchell Johnson and David Warner saga has been well and truly in the headlines, but a feud in the Aussie cricketing side in the 1980s makes it seem like ‘kids scrambling over a crayon’.

Even if Mitchell Johnson and David Warner never say another word to each other their feud can only take the silver medal for iconic wild west shootouts.

The eternal gold in this hotblooded part of the world will always rest with pace great Dennis Lillee, the late great keeper Rod Marsh and their fallout with Kim Hughes, the young upstart who became Australian captain and got duly cut down to size.

The Marsh-Lillee-Hughes affair of the 1980s makes the Johnson-Warner feud over Johnson’s newspaper column seem like kids scrambling over a crayon.

Incredibly, long before Marsh died in March last year, Hughes found peace with both men but an even bigger achievement was finding peace with himself.

After a life of heavy drinking which cost him his marriage, Hughes was sliding into a hazy abyss before harsh words from his mates and son Bradley saved him.

“I am over three years now without a drink,’’ Hughes said. “It’s 159 weeks. I know that figure because I mark it off each Friday. That’s my scoreboard. I feel like a winner.

Dennis Lillee applauds as Kim Hughes misses a ball during grade cricket in Perth, 1987.

“I go one week at a time. They say you go inch by and inch is a cinch and it is the best thing I have done.’’

More of that later ... but back to the cricket.

It takes no imagination to see how Lillee and Marsh, freakish talents, sons of truckies and incredibly tough competitors, could have fallen out with Hughes, the precocious golden haired boy with the bustling swagger.

Christian Ryan’s award winning book on Hughes, Golden Boy, is dotted with stories of Lillee bowling with incredible hostility to Hughes in the nets including one occasion where he hit Hughes on the arm the day before an Ashes Test.

Even team-mate Geoff Lawson, a bowlers man from way back, thought “this is going too far.’’

“Dennis used to let loose in the nets and no-one did anything about it.’’ Hughes said of an era when the national team had no coach and basically looked after itself.

“The standard you walk past is the standard you accept. It just wasn’t fun. Eventually it got to the stage where I had had enough.

“It was tough going. I really liked Rod and Dennis. I have seen blokes with chips on their shoulders grow in to oak trees.

“I wanted to pull a curtain across and say that has happened. I wanted to move on with my life.

“Rod has passed on but before his death I always said if I had to invite five or six people to lunch one would be Rod and the other would be Dennis.

Rod Marsh (C) and his captain Kim Hughes (R).

“People would say “why would you invite those pricks’’ but what has happened has happened and I have moved on.’’

“I speak to Dennis as often as possible. He has not been in great health lately. I said to him and few others instead of getting at funerals - and we have had a few lately – let’s try to meet more regularly. Dennis and I have organised some of those and we have had a great time.

“I am a lot better for it. I don’t have a nasty bone in my body. It was never a sit down with them to say “why were you pricks?’’ I used to speak with Ken Judge who talked about (Hawthorn coach) Alan Jeans who used to say “I don’t expect you to like me but I do expect you to respect the position I hold.’’

“I didn’t pick myself as captain.’’

There seems no doubt the accumulated stresses of his playing career, including his tearful resignation as Australian captain in 1984 at the Gabba, contributed to his drinking habits and he is relieved to have conquered these demons.

“When you drink a lot you just don’t know what you do. It wasn’t until (former Test quick) Wayne Clarke and my son Bradley spoke to me that I changed.

Mitchell Johnson and David Warner’s feud hardly compares to the Marsh-Lillee-Hughes affair. Picture: Getty Images

“Hey listen dad, you drive home over the limit. You drive other places over the limit, You could injure yourself. Do something about it. You are a dickhead. It was a good old fashioned whack which was something you need.

“Sometimes rehab can be a but fluffy but MH Connect had a nurse who came to my apartment for six months or so each week and then he said “you are right.’’

“When I was 30 I tried to give up the drink and blokes said “you are kidding’’ so I got back on it and my so called mates said “we got you.’’

Hughes remains one of the highest profile Australian cricketers never to write a book and that is a deliberate move because he feels the cash would not be worth the controversy.

“I could write a best seller but I won’t do it. I answered two questions for Christian Ryan in his book Golden Boy but that is that.

“Say the wrong thing and it rekindles everything. I have often said if my family was in urgent need and needed money maybe I would do it but I don’t want to. Some things are best left unsaid.’’