Merv Hughes and Ian Healy stop over in Toowoomba as part of the Scootaville Road Trip

Two of cricket’s all-time greats visited the Garden City this week as part of a massive road trip to raise funds for a valuable cause, while providing an update on the future of Test cricket in Queensland. Details here.

Cricket legends Ian Healy and Merv Hughes playing cricket in Queens Park as Scootaville stops off in Toowoomba. Scootaville is organised by RAAF Radschool Association to raise funds for Legacy Brisbane, Monday, September 2, 2024. Picture: Kevin Farmer

The Darling Downs was graced by the presence of cricket royalty this week with Australian cricket legends Merv Hughes and Ian Healy stopping in as part of the Scootaville road trip to raise money for the Legacy Foundation.

The road trip sees former service members travel from Brisbane to Cairns, alongside Hughes and Healy, and the convoy stopped in Toowoomba this week to play a game of cricket with students of Toowoomba Grammar School.

“(It is) a fundraiser and to recognise the work of Legacy who help the families and networks of fallen soldiers and injured soldiers,” Healy said.

“Those types of things, there is so much work to be done there to make sure those kids get to school for example, maybe to uni all those sorts of services that a widower of a soldier won’t have time to do, so it is very valuable.”

Event organiser Trevor Benneworth spoke about the strong reception he has had since bringing the fundraising trip into the Sunshine State in recent years.

“Everywhere we go we get fabulous reception, we made $25,000 first year, 30 odd thousand last year and our aim this year is to do $100,000 because we’re doing Queensland and New South Wales,” he said.

“I met Merv two years ago in Emerald on one of our trips, he was up there for a cricket reunion and I had a yarn to him and told him what we’re doing and he said ‘yeah I’ll be in it’.

“So he was in it last year and he’s talked Heals into it this year, so who knows what will happen next year.”

Toowoomba Grammar School student Ethan Shephard shared the moment he recognised one of the most famous moustaches in Australia.

“It was good coming down the hill and I could immediately tell with the mo (moustache), it was pretty big,” he said.

Cricket legend Merv Hughes bowls in a cricket game in Queens Park, Toowoomba. Picture: Kevin Farmer

“It was pretty good having Ian behind the stumps and Merv at slip, it felt pretty good.”

With Queensland’s premier cricket stadium - the Gabba - left off the 2026-27 Test schedule, Healy spoke about the future of Test cricket in Queensland.

“I think we’re okay, because we have two massive Tests first, we’ve got India this year and we’ve got England next year and then the year after that was the year that the Gabba was going to be knocked over,” he said.

“So is it not still going to be knocked over?

“That’s what the government can’t decide, they haven’t decided yet, so how could our government commit to Cricket Australia that ‘we’re going to have the Gabba’.

“So we were always going to miss one, when the decisions do get made after the election it seems, I think we will be back on a pretty strong rotation I reckon.”

Along with missing out on hosting a Test during the New Zealand tour of Australia in two years’ time, the Gabba is no longer the home of the traditional first test of the summer, with Perth taking the rights to the series openers.

TGS student Lachy Cherry with Ian Healy wicketkeeping. Picture: Kevin Farmer

“We must value that first test and the tourism influx that comes to the city for that match, not just take it for granted, because the other states have bought it,” Healy said.

“Perth has bought it for four years so we’ve got to lift, so it just won’t happen time and time again.

“I think Perth is a very risky place for the Australia Cricket Team to start a series, it’s generally a wicket where the opposition can beat us, so we’ve got to be really careful where we start but we’ll see how it goes.

“I’m confident Brisbane needs to be on the roster pretty prominently but we probably have to lift a little bit.”

With Healy and Hughes on hand to deliver lifelong cricket memories for children in the Garden City, the former wicketkeeper spoke about the importance of cricket at the grassroots level across the state.

Cricket legend Merv Hughes gives advice to TGS student Charlie Dwan while playing cricket in Queens Park as Scootaville stops off in Toowoomba. Picture: Kevin Farmer

“The cricket pathway is very good, the skill levels are good, the work that goes into improving players and high levels players is very good but the ground levels of participation is getting harder and harder to just play cricket,” Healy said.

“Cricket is an intricate sport so the work that goes into it has to be constant and fun, we’ve got to be making sure that we’re hitting those benchmarks and we’re pretty good and we always want more participation all the time.

“When you’re about four or five years old, you see the ball fly and you’re hooked, our Woolworths Blast program is all about that, hooking kids into something they might love forever.

“They might be a spectator, they might be a parent or they might be a player, but cricket should be something that they can learn and love so it is a constant challenge.”