Michael Hussey      

Following the boom, Michael Hussey almost went bust in 2008-09 as the recession hit hard. The man who had gone closest to nudging Bradman's average for three years slid towards his team-mates in a lengthy slump that eventually led to concerns over his place in the side. At the start of 2008 his average was 80.58, a few rungs below Bradman's, but by the end of the South Africa series 15 months later his number was almost up - at a distinctly mortal 55.29. There had been two hundreds in 18 games and much head scratching at his loss of powers. He started strongly in India late in 2008, playing a couple of important innings, but returned home to score ...

Following the boom, Michael Hussey almost went bust in 2008-09 as the recession hit hard. The man who had gone closest to nudging Bradman's average for three years slid towards his team-mates in a lengthy slump that eventually led to concerns over his place in the side. At the start of 2008 his average was 80.58, a few rungs below Bradman's, but by the end of the South Africa series 15 months later his number was almost up - at a distinctly mortal 55.29. There had been two hundreds in 18 games and much head scratching at his loss of powers. He started strongly in India late in 2008, playing a couple of important innings, but returned home to score 115 runs in four Tests, entering a rut he couldn't exit. In hindsight the selectors, who took so long to recognise his powers, realised they should have rested him earlier, but everyone expected a sudden surge.

England supporters still can't understand why Australia took so long to spot Hussey's Test claims. Bradmanesque in county cricket, Hussey was a less prolific and sturdier model in Australia and seemed likely to remain an unfulfilled international until the Langer-Hayden-Ponting triumvirate cracked after four years. A fractured rib to Justin Langer gave Hussey his break following 15,313 first-class runs, a record for an Australian before wearing baggy green, and during a barely believable Test introduction he accepted the apt nickname of Mr Cricket. He also owns the mark for the fastest player to 1000 Test runs after taking only 166 days to rub out the achievement of England's Andrew Strauss.

Following 11 years of first-class service his opening morning on the Test scene was a disappointment, ending with an extravagant attempted pull and a single, but he relaxed for his second match and made a deserving and attractive century. Three more hundreds followed in his first summer, including a memorable 122 in the second Test against South Africa when he put on 107 for the last wicket with Glenn McGrath. Aware of the dangers of the second-season blues, he erased any symptoms during a strong Ashes campaign that started with four consecutive fifties and was followed by a sweaty WACA century. His average was one of the most closely monitored numbers in the game, hovering either side of 80, but after back-to-back centuries against Sri Lanka he started to slip, although a fighting 145 in the bitter 2008 Sydney Test against India helped Australia set up a tense victory.

The first glitch in an extraordinary international career had come in the one-day format leading up to the 2007 World Cup. His calm outlook, strong team qualities and ability to perform in most situations had helped earn him the captaincy for the Chappell-Hadlee Series, but it quickly became a tournament to forget with three severe losses. At the World Cup his first four entries were single figures and he was not required to bat in either of the finals, finishing with 87 runs for the tournament. At the time it was a rare ineffective period for such a focussed athlete.

Like Langer and Graeme Wood, his predecessors as left-handed Western Australian openers, Hussey is scrupulous at practice and has a tidy, compact style. Skilled off front foot and back, he is attractive to watch once set, which occurred regularly at Northamptonshire, Gloucestershire and Durham, where he set about rewriting century-old record-books. Only the third man after Wally Hammond and Graeme Hick to amass three Championship triple-hundreds, he averaged 79 in the 2001 winter, 72 in 2002, 89 in 2003, 36 in 2004 and 76 in 2005. All the while he maintained an equally consistent but less enviable Pura Cup mark - 30 in 2000-01, 35 in 2001-02, 34 in 2002-03, 41 in 2003-04 and 55 in 2004-05. Reinventing himself in one-day cricket as an agile fieldsman and innovative middle-order bat with cool head and loose wrists, Hussey underlined his credentials when picked in the limited-overs squad to tour New Zealand in 2005, and achieved more outrageous figures when it took 29 matches for his average to drop below 100. While his sky-high standards have eased, he remains a respected and versatile figure.
Cricinfo staff May 2009