Michael Bevan, speaking on The Grade Cricketer podcast, debunked some hilarious claims by his Australia teammates from his playing career, including accusations of him “sleeping with his eyes open” and “showering with his full kit on”.
16 years after he played his last international match, Bevan, regarded one of the game’s greatest white-ball finishers, cleared the air on a couple of famous ‘Bevo’ stories from his playing time.
In his book titled Wrong Un, Bevan’s Australia teammate Brad Hogg narrates an incident from his debut Test series in 1996, when he was called in to replace Shane Warne. Hogg writes that he once woke up at night “and was pooping himself” when he realised Michael Bevan was “staring straight at him”. Hogg later realised that Bevan was “sleeping with his eyes open.”
When asked on the podcast if there was any truth behind the story, Bevan said: “Look, I was never a great sleeper, I was a bit wide, had a lot of things going on in my mind. Never a great sleeper.”
“So I reckon there were a lot of times that my roommates during the early years would probably, I don’t know, wake up snoring or for whatever reason and find I was probably sitting at the side of my bed, staring at them. It kind of would have been really off-putting I guess. I am not sure that it was so much that I slept with my eyes open. It was probably just that I didn’t sleep.”
That wasn’t the only odd story Bevan featured in. Former Australia opener Michael Slater, during a commentary shift, claimed that a fully-kitted Bevan walked straight into shower after a frustrating dismissal. This time, Bevan wasn’t completely convinced by the story.
“I kind of dispute that one. I believe it happened, but I don’t know if it was the full kit, probably the trousers on. That was probably a solid chance of happening.
"I’ve been described as an enigma, a tortured genius. People can’t work out why I performed so well in one-day cricket and not Test cricket, why I performed well at first-class cricket and not Test cricket, and I suppose it was my own personal demons."https://t.co/7V4Twkwaps
— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) December 24, 2020
“It was a very amateur game, so I am not sure if they provided us hot water back in those days.”
He did go on to mention that his frustration after a disappointing performance used to spill out in different ways. In hindsight, it’s a good thing then that he remained not out 67 times in his one-day career, the fourth-highest for any international batsman.
“But I can also remember getting out because I was extremely frustrated when I didn’t perform. You can add another story – (once) I was bowling in the nets for about an hour after I got out, just to let off some steam and frustration. There are a lot of stories out there.”
