- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
How does a batsman maintain an average above 70 for three years of Test match cricket? According to Mike Hussey, the answer is simple: luck.
More cricket
Aussie quicks lack teeth before rain arrives
Humiliated Ganguly rants against teammates
Hussey remains as surprised as anyone by the remarkable statistical path he has followed through his first 26 Tests, with the latest chapter a fine 146 at Bangalore in his first innings on the Indian subcontinent.
Hussey’s average of 70.6 is comfortably the second-best Test mean of all time among players to take part in more than 20 matches, well behind Don Bradman’s iconic 99.94. But it’s also a good distance clear of the 60.97 per innings clocked by punishing South African left-hander Graeme Pollock, who played 23 Tests.
“You need a bit of luck along the way I think,” Hussey said.
“But I guess for me it took me a long time to get into the Australian team so I just want to take every opportunity I can get and not take it for granted.
“Like all the guys in our dressing room we wear the baggy green cap with a lot of pride and we never, ever take it for granted, so every day is very important and very special.”
Perhaps the best clue to why Hussey has maintained the record came when he was asked about how he assessed his game after a relatively mediocre West Indies tour in mid-year.
Rather than sitting back and relaxing, confident that things would come around, Hussey said he took a critical look at his technique ahead of the Indian tour.
“Once I got back from the West Indies it was a little break so I had an opportunity to have a good, critical look at my technique again,” he said.
“There were one or two little things I wanted to improve on to help me with my game and I’ve been putting those things into practice.”
The record that will please Hussey most, though, is the fact that all of his previous eight centuries have come in Australian victories — a good sign for the ninth.
“Is that right? I didn’t know that, that’s a good omen I guess,” he said.
“(But) we’ve got a lot of work still to do in the next three days. India have got off to a good start …”
Build your own fantasy cricket team and put it to the test with Draftstars daily fantasy competitions. Pick your match, pick your team and watch the points roll in to take out cash prizes on each match. What are you really gambling with? Set a deposit limit.