What you wouldn’t give to have a few more Michael Husseys in this Australian batting order now. “Vintage form” doesn’t do his current Ashes series justice.
517 runs at an outstanding average of 103.4 is a good indication, sure, and even more so when you realise that’s nearly 45 better than the next best, Shane Watson (293 at 58.6).
The truth is that without Mike Hussey, Australia may very well have surrendered the Ashes already, so it’s a sobering thought, now, to recall that he was probably only one more failure away from being dropped in November.
It’s scary to think what might have been had that happened.
And if you’re not scared by that thought, then consider this one.
Hussey’s 517 accounts for Michael Clarke, Simon Katich, Ricky Ponting, Marcus North, Steve Smith, and Phillip Hughes combined. Himself. By more than a hundred.
Clone him by Christmas, for goodness sakes!
On Day 3, as he did on the corresponding day in Brisbane, Hussey led the way as Australia set up a difficult, but not impossible target for England.
His batting in this crucial innings was right off the top shelf, exactly what the situation required.
When he had to dig in and defend, he dug as deep as he possibly could. When he needed to come up and attack, he launched everything he had. The ABC Radio commentary team discussed a stat raised by their BBC colleagues, that Hussey played 17 pull shots to reach his century, and nailed every one of them.
Some of them were outright brutal, with none were better than the shot he brought up the hundred with. From the moment the ball met the middle of the bat, it was four of the best in front of square leg, and the celebrations began straight away.
I said of his pull shot after his Brisbane hundred that it was like watching the Mike Hussey of 2006/07, and that’s still the case now.
Whereas in England for the Pakistan series, he looked to be a little late on the shot, right at the moment, he’s seeing it so early that he’s almost hitting it right of the bowlers hand. Generally Steve Finn’s, it seems.
Hussey has been the Australian side’s Rock of Gibraltar, their immovable object, their irresistible force.
But at the same time, he’s the ham in the sandwich and the literal glue holding them together.
So solid and dependable has he been this series, that the calls to drop him have been quickly replaced by calls for him to move to the top of the order.
However, this would undermine that middle order rock. In a classic case of weakening an obvious strength, moving Hussey to the top would leave the middle order even more vulnerable than it already is.
In the same way I maintain Australia now can’t afford to move Watson down the order, Australia can afford to move Hussey up the order even less.
I don’t hide that fact that watching Hussey bat is something I can do all day (I did, in Brisbane, and it was excellent). However, even I was starting to wonder about his place in the side before this Ashes Series commenced.
I did say at the time though, that I know who I’d want batting for my life, and fortunately, the Australian selectors felt the same way. And as it turns out, he has been batting for Australia’s life in this series.
While a few of his teammates will face, or have already felt the selectors’ axe, Hussey now has surely earned the right to play out his career on his terms.
Should the Australian side go on to win this Third Test, as would seem highly likely with England still needing 310 runs with only five wickets in hand, several of his top order teammates would do well to take an extra Christmas present to Melbourne.
And if Santa is reading, a couple of Mike Hussey clones would do me nicely.
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