Michael Hussey

Michael Hussey

Australia

Full name Michael Edward Killeen Hussey
Born May 27, 1975, Morley, Western Australia
Current age 31 years 278 days
Major teams Australia, Durham, Gloucestershire, Northamptonshire, Western Australia
Nickname Mr Cricket, Huss
Playing role Opening batsman
Batting style Left-hand bat
Bowling style Right-arm medium
Height 1.80 m
Relations Brother - DJ Hussey

Statsguru

Batting and fielding averages

	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	BF	SR	100	50	4s	6s	Ct	St
Tests	16	26	6	1597	182	79.85	3029	52.72	5	8	181	11	8	0
ODIs	61	48	22	1739	109*	66.88	1904	91.33	2	10	145	36	38	0
Twenty20 Int.	4	3	1	50	31*	25.00	30	166.66	0	0	3	4	5	0
First-class	193	345	33	16956	331*	54.34			44	75			209	0
List A	251	231	48	8301	123	45.36	10867	76.38	11	60			130	0
Twenty20	12	11	2	397	88	44.11	315	126.03	0	3			11	0

Bowling averages

	Mat	Balls	Runs	Wkts	BBI	BBM	Ave	Econ	SR	4	5	10
Tests	16	30	23	0	-	-	-	4.60	-	0	0	0
ODIs	61	192	167	2	1/22	1/22	83.50	5.21	96.00	0	0	0
Twenty20 Int.	4	0	0	0	-	-	-	-	-	0	0	0
First-class	193	1440	762	20	3/34		38.10	3.17	72.00		0	0
List A	251	738	761	20	3/52	3/52	38.05	6.18	36.90	0	0	0
Twenty20	12	0	0	0	-	-	-	-	-	0	0	0

Career statistics
Test debut	Australia v West Indies at Brisbane - Nov 3-7, 2005
Last Test	Australia v England at Sydney - Jan 2-5, 2007
ODI debut	Australia v India at Perth - Feb 1, 2004
Last ODI	New Zealand v Australia at Hamilton - Feb 20, 2007
Twenty20 Int. debut	New Zealand v Australia at Auckland - Feb 17, 2005
Last Twenty20 Int.	Australia v England at Sydney - Jan 9, 2007
First-class span	1994/95 - 2006/07
List A span	1996/97 - 2006/07
Twenty20 span	2003 - 2006/07

Notes

One-Day International Player of the Year - 2006

Profile

England supporters can't understand why Australia took so long to recognise Michael 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.

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. After 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. After 16 Tests his mean of 79.85 is only a few rungs below Sir Don's and he is trying not to fall from greatness. The one-day campaign was slightly less productive by his sky-high standards, but he remains a central and versatile figure. His calm outlook, strong team qualities and ability to perform outstandingly in most situations helped earn him the captaincy for the Chappell-Hadlee Series. It quickly became a tournament to forget with three severe losses and has been the only glitch in an extraordinary international career.