Michael Hussey

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Michael Hussey

Australia
Personal information
Full name Michael Edward Killeen Hussey
Nickname Mr. Cricket, Huss
Born 27 May 1975 (1975-05-27) (age 33)
Morley, Western Australia, Australia
Height 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Batting style Left-handed
Bowling style Right-arm medium
International information
Test debut (cap 393) 3 November 2005: v West Indies
Last Test 22 May 2008: v West Indies
ODI debut (cap 150) 1 February 2004: v India
Last ODI 6 March 2008: v India
ODI shirt no. 48
Domestic team information
Years Team
1994 – Western Australia
2001 – 2003 Northamptonshire
2004 Gloucestershire
2005 Durham
2008 Chennai Super Kings (IPL)
Career statistics
Tests ODI FC LA
Matches 23 85 203 277
Runs scored 2,245 2,113 17,748 8,687
Batting average 74.83 55.60 54.44 44.09
100s/50s 8/9 2/12 47/78 11/62
Top score 182 109* 331* 123
Balls bowled 30 192 1,470 738
Wickets - 2 20 20
Bowling average - 83.50 39.75 38.05
5 wickets in innings - – - -
10 wickets in match - n/a - n/a
Best bowling - 1/22 3/34 3/52
Catches/stumpings 21/– 49/– 222/– 141/–

As of 27 May 2008
Source: Cricinfo

Michael Edward Killeen Hussey (born 27 May 1975, Morley, Western Australia) is an Australian cricketer. He is also known by his nicknames of Huss, The Huss, and Mr Cricket, the latter due to his statto-like knowledge of his sport, though he loathes the latter nickname.[1]

A left-handed batsman, he is a relative latecomer to both the Test and ODI Australian sides, but he has made a highly successful start to his international career. At one stage, he was the top-ranked ODI batsman in the world.[2] He plays first-class cricket as vice-captain for the Western Warriors in Australia and has played for three counties in England. He currently has the second highest test batting average and the highest ODI batting average of those who have played a significant number of games.

Contents

[edit] Career prior to Test debut

Hussey initially played for his native Western Australian Warriors, and his career total of 6471 runs ranks eighth in the list of Western Australian run-makers in the Pura Cup. He then moved to England, where in July 2001 he scored an unbeaten 329 (a Northamptonshire club record) at Wantage Road in his side's 633 for six declared on the way to a ten-wicket victory. He later captained Northamptonshire. In August 2003 he surpassed his own Northamptonshire record, when he scored 331 not out against Somerset at Taunton.

When playing for the second-string national team, Allan Border once jokingly suggested that he get match practice by staying in the nets for a full six hours; to his astonishment, Hussey went on to do just that. [3] Hussey's devotion to the game has earned him the nickname "Mr. Cricket", which appeared on the back of his shirt in the Twenty20 International against South Africa in 2006. During the 2007 20/20 Match against England, Hussey was seen with the nickname "Huss" on his shirt instead of the famous "Mr Cricket". [3]

[edit] International career

Hussey earned a Cricket Australia contract in 2004-05 after excelling in the ING Cup. Statistically, Hussey's international career has been very successful, with his batting average in Tests being over 80 and in ODIs just under 60. He currently tops the list of best averages ever in ODI cricket. Hussey's ODI average would be lower were it not for an early string of not outs, but nevertheless his strike rate of 90.90 is very respectable. Some have expressed regret that he wasn't selected for the national squad earlier in his career.

He was part of Australia's 2007 ICC World Twenty20 squad which exited the tournament at the semi-final stage. He played in every one of Australia's matches, scoring 65 runs with a best of 37 before suffering a hamstring injury which prevented his participation in Australia's tour of India that followed. He also plays for the IPL team Chennai Super Kings, and was subsequently the second ever batsman to score a Twenty20 century in the league after New Zealand batsman Brendon McCullum.

[edit] Tests

An innings-by-innings breakdown of Hussey's Test match batting career, showing runs scored (red bars) and the average of the last ten innings (blue line).
An innings-by-innings breakdown of Hussey's Test match batting career, showing runs scored (red bars) and the average of the last ten innings (blue line).

Hussey made his test debut at the Gabba in Brisbane on the 3rd November 2005, as a replacement for fellow Western Australian batsman Justin Langer in the Australia vs. West Indies series. In the first innings Hussey only managed 1 run, caught by Denesh Ramdin off the bowling of Daren Powell. In the second innings Hussey turned in an unimpressive score of 29. In the following Test, at Bellerive Oval (Tasmania) he scored 137 and 31* and was named Man of the Match. In the third Test at Adelaide Oval, Hussey was moved down the order to number 5 to accommodate the return of Langer. He made 133 not out in the first innings and 30 not out in the second, bringing his Test average to 120.

Since being moved down the order, Hussey has proved invaluable to the Australian team, often building impressive partnerships with the tailend batsmen, the most impressive being a 107-run 10th wicket partnership with Glenn McGrath in the second Test match in South Africa's 2005/06 tour of Australia. Hussey continued his remarkable batting with tail-enders against Bangladesh in their Spring 2006 2-test series when he and Jason Gillespie (as a nightwatchman) put together a 320-run partnership, with Hussey making a career-best 182.

On April 18, 2006 Hussey set a record as the fastest player in terms of time to reach 1000 Test runs [4]. He reached the milestone in just 166 days.

Hussey scored 86 runs in the first innings of the first test of the 2006-07 Ashes series at the Gabba in November 2006. This was his 20th Test innings and thus qualified him for the all-time batting average list. He currently sits in second place, behind only Bradman on 99.94. Hussey was the fastest player to reach the top 10 of the LG ICC cricket ratings. He maintained an exceptional average of 105.25 in the 2006-07 Ashes series, which Australia won 5-0.

Hussey (far right) in the slips against India in the 3rd Test at the SCG in 2008
Hussey (far right) in the slips against India in the 3rd Test at the SCG in 2008

In the second Test of the 2006-2007 Ashes, Hussey made 91 before he was bowled (playing on) by Matthew Hoggard and fell 9 runs short of his 5th Test century. In the second innings Australia was chasing 168 off 35 overs for victory for a chance to go 2-0 up in the series. After the fall of 2 early wickets, Ponting and Hussey, who was promoted to No.4 instead of Damien Martyn, formed a steady partnership to guide Australia to victory. Ponting fell on 49 but the battle was well over. Hussey scored the winning runs and made 61 not out from 66 balls. His partner, Michael Clarke scored 21 not out. [5].

On Saturday, December 16 Hussey scored 103 runs off 156 balls - his fifth Test century - on the third day of the third match of the series at the WACA ground in Perth.

On Saturday, January 6 2007 after Australia's 5-nil Ashes series whitewash, Justin Langer anointed Hussey to be the next leader of the team's victory song Under the Southern Cross I Stand.

In the first test of the Warne-Muralidaran Trophy against Sri Lanka, Mike Hussey scored his sixth Test century with a score of 133 runs off 249 balls. He was also part of a record-breaking 4th wicket partnership with Australian team-mate, Michael Clarke. Their 245 run partnership is the 3rd highest partnership for Australia against Sri Lanka in Test matches. In the following test of the Warne-Muralitharan Trophy, Mike Hussey scored his seventh Test century with a score of 132 and following it up in the second innings with 34 not out.

On the 6th of January 2008, Hussey scored his 8th test century against India at the SCG. This was the first time Hussey has got over 50 at that ground. He ended up not out on 145, before Ponting declared. However, in the first innings of the next test he scored his first duck in Test cricket.

[edit] ODIs

Hussey debuted for the Australian One-day team against India on February 1st 2004 at his home WACA ground in Perth. In this match Hussey made 17* helping Australia win the match by 5 wickets.

In the third Super Series match on October 9, 2005, Hussey became the first person to hit the roof of the Telstra Dome (the ICC World XI's Makhaya Ntini was the bowler in this case). On February 6, 2006, Hussey tied with Adam Gilchrist, Andrew Symonds and Brett Lee on 22 votes for the Australian One-Day Player of the Year at the annual Allan Border Medal presentation. However, Symonds was ruled ineligible after an alcohol related indiscretion, and after Lee and Gilchrist were eliminated on countback, Hussey was named the outright winner. Hussey had also come second overall in the Allan Border medal his first year in international cricket. On November 3, 2006, Hussey became the ICC's ODI Player of the Year at the annual ICC Awards in Mumbai. Mike Hussey was also named in their World ODI XI in 2006 and as 12th man in 2007.

Many tip Hussey to be the next ODI and Test captain of Australia[6][7][8] and on September 18, 2006, owing to Australia's rotation policy, and in Ricky Ponting's absence, Hussey captained Australia for the first time in the DLF Cup second round match against West Indies at Kuala Lumpur. Australia lost the game by three wickets, but Hussey and Brad Haddin put together a sixth-wicket partnership of 165, a world record for that wicket in all ODIs. [9]

In the 2007 Commonwealth Bank Triangular Series, Australia were in trouble while chasing a target against England, and in a later match New Zealand. Both times Hussey guided the Australians to victory, and on both occasions was the only recognised batsman at the crease at the end of the match.

Hussey led Australia in the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy after captain Ricky Ponting and vice-captain Adam Gilchrist were rested by the selectors. The first match against New Zealand saw a ten wicket loss, the first time Australia had lost by this margin in their one-day international history, although Hussey top scored with 42 off 96 balls. Hussey's record as captain was further marred when Australia lost the top place in the ODI Rankings to South Africa for the first time since they were introduced in 2002 after losing to New Zealand two days later. Hussey top-scored for Australia with an aggressive 105 off 84 before another loss in the final match left Hussey with a captaincy record of four losses from four matches.

In early 2007, Hussey had a major slump in form with an average of only 8 in over 10 innings, which scarcely improved in the World Cup where he gained an average of 17.4 with 87 runs. However, this was also due to a lack of opportunities to bat because of Australia's top-order dominance.

In the 4th ODI in the Commenwealth Bank Series played at the MCG on February 10, 2008 against India, Australia's Top Order and Middle Order collapsed which saw Hussey come in at 5/72 with Australia in deep trouble. Michael Hussey made a 53 run partership for the 7th wicket with Brett Lee (which was the highest partnership of the innings) until Lee fell to Pathan. Hussey batted through the rest of the innings making an unbeaten 65 off 88 being the only Australian to really contribute to their poor total of 159.

[edit] Personal life

Hussey is married to Amy and has three children: Jasmin, William and Molly. His younger brother, David, is also a professional cricketer who plays for Victoria, Nottinghamshire, Kolkata Knightriders and Australia.

[edit] Endorsements

In August 2007, Mike Hussey became brand ambassador for Canada-based games publisher Gamebience. According to the Gamebience's press release, they have acquired his exclusive rights whereby he will be endorsing their products including Cricket Life 08.

[edit] Test Centuries

Michael Hussey's Test Centuries
Runs Match Against City/Country Venue Year
[1] 137 2 West Indies Brisbane, Australia The Gabba 2005
[2] 133* 3 West Indies Adelaide, Australia Adelaide Oval 2005
[3] 122 5 South Africa Melbourne, Australia Melbourne Cricket Ground 2005
[4] 182 11 Bangladesh Chittagong, Bangladesh Chittagong Divisional Stadium 2006
[5] 103 14 England Perth, Australia The WACA 2006
[6] 133 17 Sri Lanka Brisbane, Australia The Gabba 2007
[7] 132 18 Sri Lanka Hobart, Australia Bellerive Oval 2007
[8] 145* 20 India Sydney, Australia Sydney Cricket Ground 2008

[edit] One Day International Centuries

Mike Hussey's One Day International Centuries
Runs Match Against City/Country Venue Year
[1] 109* 41 West Indies Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Kinrara Academy Oval 2006
[2] 105 60 New Zealand Auckland, New Zealand Eden Park 2007

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Mr Cricket takes a chill pill, Cricinfo, Retrieved on 22 January 2008
  2. ^ LG ICC Cricket Rankings
  3. ^ a b Perfection Patience and Pride, Sydney Morning Herald
  4. ^ Fastest player to reach 1000 Test runs
  5. ^ Hussey surges into batting Top 10
  6. ^ "Australia's next captain? Hussey goes from the solid to downright spectacular", Guardian, 2006-11-21. Retrieved on 2006-11-27. 
  7. ^ "Hussey's left turn", The Times, 2006-11-05. Retrieved on 2006-11-27. 
  8. ^ "Warne's 'ball' the best of all", Townsville Bulletin, 2006-11-23. Retrieved on 2006-11-27. 
  9. ^ Highest Partnership for Each Wicket in ODIs. CricketArchive. Retrieved on 2006-10-02.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
v • d • e
Australia squad - 2007 Cricket World Cup (4th title)
8 Clark • 11 McGrath • 14 Ponting (c) • 17 Hodge • 18 Gilchrist • 23 Clarke • 25 Johnson • 28 Hayden • 31 Hogg • 32 Tait • 33 Watson • 48 Hussey • 57 Haddin • 58 Lee • 59 Bracken • 63 Symonds • Coach: Buchanan
Brett Lee was named in the original squad but withdrew from the tournament and was replaced by Stuart Clark
 Flag of Australia
v • d • e
Chennai Super Kings – current squad

3 Raina • 6 Mukund • 7 M.S Dhoni (c) • 8 Muralitharan • 9 Patel • 10 Srikkanth • 11 Balaji • 12 Sivaramakrishnan • 13 Sharma • 16 Ntini • 21 Amarnath • 24 Oram • 25 Jakati • 28 Hayden • 33 Badrinath • 42 Karthik • 43 Fleming • 48 M.Hussey • 76 Gony • 81 A.Morkel •  Ashwin •  Einstein •  Kadbe •  Kapugedera •  Kumar • Coach Wessels
v • d • e
Australian batsmen with a Test batting average above 50
Minimum 20 innings. Current players are listed in italics.
Persondata
NAME Hussey, Michael Edward Killeen
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Mike
SHORT DESCRIPTION Cricketer
DATE OF BIRTH 27 May 1975
PLACE OF BIRTH Morley, Western Australia
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH