Paceman James Anderson admits England are trying to mess with Mike Hussey’s head during this Ashes series.

Hussey’s 150 against the England Lions in Worcester last week seemed a distant memory after Anderson extended the left-hander’s lean Test run in Cardiff on Friday.

Hussey made just three from 16 balls in the series opener before being caught behind and he has now posted just one half century in his last 13 Test innings.

Anderson said the Poms were doing their best to keep the pressure on the man that scorched 458 runs at 91.60 in the 2006-07 Ashes series in Australia.

“He’s one guy that has not had the best year in Test cricket,” he said.

“We certainly let him know that and luckily we got him cheaply today because we saw what good form he was in at Worcester.”

Hussey had to wait and watch for four and half hours of play spread over two days at Sophia Gardens as Simon Katich (122) and Ricky Ponting (150) set up Australia’s impressive first innings response.

He and Phillip Hughes (36) were the only members of the top six not to reach fifty on a good batting deck.

Hussey’s timing was off in more ways than one on day three, only coming to the crease after Anderson had just started hooping the second new ball around.

He inside-edged a full toss outside of off stump back onto his legs early on in a sign that he was a bit on edge.

And before he could really get settled, he feathered a straight ball from Anderson to wicket keeper Matt Prior.

His vice-captain Michael Clarke backed his teammate to rebound.

“I think Huss is fine,” he said.

“He batted beautifully in Worcester and he is hitting the ball well and as Hussey does, he is training as much as ever.

“Mr Cricket is Mr Cricket. I don’t think he is far away from a big score.

“It is hard for him today watching Kato (Simon Katich) and Punt (Ricky Ponting) for a long period of time and then to go out there.

“Unfortunately in this game not everyone makes runs.

“I think Huss is in really good form and he is not far away from a really big hundred.

“I think that is one thing that Michael Hussey does do, once he makes a start he really goes on with it.”

Clarke (83) himself showed that he was ready to step up his run production on foreign soil with a classy knock in Wales.

The vice-captain used his quick feet to great effect in taking to the spinners and also comfortably dealt with the seamers in a positive opening to the series for the 28-year-old.

Clarke has tended to be at his best on home soil in his career to date.

Before the clash in Cardiff, he had posted 1,820 runs at 58.71 in Australia and 1,384 at 38.44 away from home.

But his composed knock in Cardiff that included nine fours and a six off Monty Panesar suggested that he was continuing to mature into a batsman capable of scoring in all conditions.

© AAP 2012

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