Eugene Vincent " Hughie" Carroll was an Australiancricketer who played first-class cricket for Victoria between 1905-06 and 1923-24. A specialist right-hand batsman, Carroll was born and raised in South Melbourne, and joined the localSouth Melbourne Cricket Club as a youth. He had a long association with South, and during the 1930s he coached the future Australian cricket captainsLindsay Hassett and Ian Johnson, as well as Australia's greatest all-rounder, Keith Miller. When he turned 18, Hughie and his brother Eddie crossed over to North Melbourne Cricket Club and he made his 1st XI debut in 1903/04 and played 5 seasons at the club. While playing for North Melbourne he was also called up for Victoria, debuting in 1905/06. In 1908, he joined the East Melbourne Cricket Club. This culminated in a successful period for club and state. In his third season for Victoria he scored consistently and made 61 against the touring English team, which put his name up as a possible Australian selection. But, this was not to be, although on 12 February 1909 he played for the Rest of Australia XI against the Australian test team, scoring 69 runs in the first innings. He stayed at East Melbourne until the outbreak of the First World War. With cricket going into recess, Hughie retired from all forms of cricket. He was 29. After the resumption of District Cricket in 1918, Hughie came out of retirement, returning to the 1st XI ranks at Northcote Cricket Club in December 1918 and staying there until the end of the 1923/24 season. He even returned to the Victorian team for 2 games, one in 1922 and the other in 1924. By then he was 39 years of age. Hughie then played 2 seasons for Fitzroy Cricket Club in 1924/25 and 1925/26. In total, Carroll played 37 first-class matches for the modest return of 1,706 runs at an average of 26.24. His only century was 112 against South Australia at Adelaide Oval in November 1906, batting at number six. He then left the city making his way to coach and play for Kyabram Cricket Club for 3 seasons, completely dominating the Kyabram District Cricket Association. In season 1926/27 he averaged 70; in 1927/28 he average 111; and in 1928/29 he averaged 109, including a remarkable 14 centuries! In that season’s final he made 301 not out of a total of 404. He was then appointed coach of Shepparton Cricket Club at the Annual General Meeting on Monday 16 September 1929 and made 141 in his first game for the club. By now he was 44 years of age, but in 10 games for the club he scored 450 runs at an average of 56.25. Work then took him to Benalla in January 1930. In 1931 Hughie had returned to Melbourne, remarkably returning to 1st XI District Cricket with St Kilda Cricket Club at the age of 46. But he was not lost to country cricket, as he was appointed coach of the Victorian Country Cricket League and returned to Shepparton to undertake coaching clinics in November 1931. He died in the Melbourne suburb of Elsternwick at the age of 80.
