Merv Hughes wants bouncer as opening ball of first India-Oz Test to clear air

Former Australian pace bowler Merv Hughes has called on fast bowlers to clear the air by bowling a bouncer off the opening ball of the first Test against India.

There are fears that Australia's much vaunted pace attack might lose its trademark aggression in the wake of Phillip Hughes' tragic passing, which came as the result of a short-pitched ball that hit him on the head during a Sheffield Shield match at the SCG last week.

While any opinions of banning the bouncer from cricket have been brushed off, a question still lingers over how much the tactic would be used in the wake of Hughes' passing, especially by the late batsman's former teammates, News.com.au reported.

However, Merv, who himself made a career out of aggressive, in-your-face fast bowling, believes that the best way to deal with the issue is to confront it straight away.

He said that the longer it goes without someone bowling a bouncer, the more it's going to be talked about and the more it's going to be on people's minds.

The former fast bowler added that he believes just to clear the air the first ball of the game should just be a bouncer, and just say 'right, let's get on with business'.

Merv said that it might be a callous, uncaring way to look at it but added that what they have got to take in mind is what happened to Phillip was a tragic accident.

The former paceman said that there's been bouncers bowled over 100 years of cricket and this was an isolated incident, adding that as skipper Michael Clarke said in his speech, they must play on.