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Australian batsman Michael Hussey plays a cut shot on his way to scoring 101 not out. AAP Image/Julian Smith
This Ashes Series just about marks the four year anniversary of Michael Hussey’s Test debut. Many people felt he should have been selected for the 2005 Ashes tour.
Following the fallout from that series loss, he received his Baggy Green cap and he has been wearing it with pride ever since.
For a while he appeared more cyborg than human. But in recent times, Mr Cricket has appeared mortal and fallible. No longer is he the assembly line of runs he once was.
His Test career is one of two halves and reflects the changing eras of the Australian cricket side. After 20 Test matches, he had amassed 2120 runs at the Bradman-like average of 84.8.
The 20 Tests since have only yielded 1066 runs at 30.5. Overall, his average sits at a more than respectable 53.1, which is nothing to be sneezed at, but not sitting in the rarified atmosphere it once resided in.
Hussey has eight centuries in the first half of his career, compared to a solitary one in the second
What is interesting is that Hussey has had ten more innings in the second half of his career. This is for two reasons: the Australian side is batting twice more than it used to and Hussey has less not outs than he used to.
In his first 20 matches, he was only dismissed 25 times, which is practically unfathomable.
When he was new on the scene, his intensity was a novelty and seemed quite quaint. But as his career has matured, it has become a yoke which uncomfortably sits on his shoulders.
While everyone gets anxious and nervous at times, the degree to which it affects Hussey isn’t healthy. Someone as talented as Hussey and someone so used to the English conditions shouldn’t be prone to being so tense.
Then there is the age issue.
Hussey is now 34 and it could be that it is catching up with him.
In this series, he has only scored 145 at 29 and should this continue, and should Australia lose the series, Hussey could be part of the fallout as he was four years ago.
Only this time, he won’t be the beneficiary of it.
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