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- Jan 13, 2010
Article by Aditya -
Playing under the shadow of greats – Mike Hussey. A possible name for his autobiography? Maybe, perhaps but that’s not we’ll be discussing in this article. My main purpose to write this article is to apprehend my views on the great player that Hussey was. He’s also one of those players who never got the fame that they deserved and thereby never being rated as among the greats, even though unarguably they were one of the finest players to have played the sport ever.
Michael Hussey, also referred to as Mr.Cricket, well they don?t call him that for nothing. The kind of impact Hussey had while playing for Australia is huge and we get to become conscious of this after he has retired. While he made his debut for Australia, likes of Ponting, Martyn and a more than fine WKB Gilchrist and other very fine players were still around and Hussey making a place for himself in Australia?s middle order among these great players was itself a big achievement. Not only did Hussey successfully accomplish in cementing his place in the side, he performed and that too on consistent basis, having his average above 60 in test matches for quite a while.
While Hussey was never considered among Australia?s greatest, unarguably the impact he had on the side in the years he played is without doubt pretty huge. Regardless of his records, which are actually quite good for any cricketer but as a fan, I can easily say that his records actually don?t do justice to his potential. That largely has to do with the years of cricket he played for his national side. Australia?s middle order in the 90?s didn?t really call for any change and thereby, young players like Hussey had to wait quite a while before getting a call up from the international side
Hussey?s temperament never came into question and neither did his sportsman spirit. Hussey?s playing style all throughout his career stood out from the rest of his team mates. Not only did he know how to play under tough situations, he also knew his limitations. One thing about Hussey that always amazed me was his ability to play equally well in all 3 formats of the game.? Not only did he know how to be defensive and build an innings, he knew equally well as to how he has to be aggressive and play the big shots during the later overs of limited overs cricket.
Hussey was a big fan of Allan Border while growing up and in fact it was due to him that he changed his batting from being a right hander to persisting with playing cricket as a left hander. Least to say, this change perhaps brought out the better of him.
Hussey?s presence in the Australian side was huge and not to mention, he will surely be missed by the team now that they don?t have such a solid player playing for their team anymore. Hussey is one of those players who cannot be judged by their stats simply because he was a team player who never played for himself.
Hussey never hesitated to change his batting position for the team, whether it was lower down the order to even getting him to open the batting, not once did we see Hussey not looking excited to go out there and play for his country. He is an inspiration for all the young cricketers as to how they must not play for records but always play for their team first and Hussey apprehended this on the international level, where at times players do get selfish. That’s one of the biggest reasons why I rated him very high as a cricketer.
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Playing under the shadow of greats – Mike Hussey. A possible name for his autobiography? Maybe, perhaps but that’s not we’ll be discussing in this article. My main purpose to write this article is to apprehend my views on the great player that Hussey was. He’s also one of those players who never got the fame that they deserved and thereby never being rated as among the greats, even though unarguably they were one of the finest players to have played the sport ever.
Michael Hussey, also referred to as Mr.Cricket, well they don?t call him that for nothing. The kind of impact Hussey had while playing for Australia is huge and we get to become conscious of this after he has retired. While he made his debut for Australia, likes of Ponting, Martyn and a more than fine WKB Gilchrist and other very fine players were still around and Hussey making a place for himself in Australia?s middle order among these great players was itself a big achievement. Not only did Hussey successfully accomplish in cementing his place in the side, he performed and that too on consistent basis, having his average above 60 in test matches for quite a while.
While Hussey was never considered among Australia?s greatest, unarguably the impact he had on the side in the years he played is without doubt pretty huge. Regardless of his records, which are actually quite good for any cricketer but as a fan, I can easily say that his records actually don?t do justice to his potential. That largely has to do with the years of cricket he played for his national side. Australia?s middle order in the 90?s didn?t really call for any change and thereby, young players like Hussey had to wait quite a while before getting a call up from the international side
Hussey?s temperament never came into question and neither did his sportsman spirit. Hussey?s playing style all throughout his career stood out from the rest of his team mates. Not only did he know how to play under tough situations, he also knew his limitations. One thing about Hussey that always amazed me was his ability to play equally well in all 3 formats of the game.? Not only did he know how to be defensive and build an innings, he knew equally well as to how he has to be aggressive and play the big shots during the later overs of limited overs cricket.
Hussey was a big fan of Allan Border while growing up and in fact it was due to him that he changed his batting from being a right hander to persisting with playing cricket as a left hander. Least to say, this change perhaps brought out the better of him.
Hussey?s presence in the Australian side was huge and not to mention, he will surely be missed by the team now that they don?t have such a solid player playing for their team anymore. Hussey is one of those players who cannot be judged by their stats simply because he was a team player who never played for himself.
Hussey never hesitated to change his batting position for the team, whether it was lower down the order to even getting him to open the batting, not once did we see Hussey not looking excited to go out there and play for his country. He is an inspiration for all the young cricketers as to how they must not play for records but always play for their team first and Hussey apprehended this on the international level, where at times players do get selfish. That’s one of the biggest reasons why I rated him very high as a cricketer.
More...
