Hughes also played for Northern Transvaal in South Africa during the winter of 1982–83, and the Grafton United Cricket Club in Auckland in the 1987–1988 season.
[6] Hughes retired in 1993 to concentrate on a writing career which had begun as a player for The Independent with the widely acclaimed Cricketer's Diary.
He is also known for his work as The Analyst on Channel 4's cricket coverage (from 1999 to 2005), winning the Royal Television Society's Sports pundit of the Year award in 2002,[8] where he spent matches in a VT trailer, watching replays and drawing viewers' attention to particular details.
In 2021 he produced a tenth book, A New Innings, co-written with Manoj Badale, owner of the Rajasthan Royals, detailing how the IPL reinvented the game and provides lessons for the business of sport.
Most recently he has formed a media production company, Starfield Films, with his next-door neighbour, the director Ashley Gething.
In partnership with Sylver Entertainment they have produced a cinematic documentary, The Greatest Game, retelling the story of England's 2019 World Cup triumph through the prism of the players and their families.