Michael Edward Killeen Hussey (born 27 May 1975, Morley, Western Australia) is an Australian cricketer. Hussey is a left-handed specialist batsman. Hussey is also widely known by his nicknames of Huss, The Huss, and Mr Cricket, the latter due to his encyclopaedic knowledge of his sport, though he loathes the latter nickname.
Hussey was a relative latecomer to both the ODI and Test Australian teams, debuting at 28 and 30 years of age in the respective formats, with 15,313 first-class runs prior to test debut.However, he has had a highly successful international career, being the top-ranked ODI batsman in the world in 2006 and maintaining the all-time second-highest test batting average among cricketers who have played more than 25 tests.He plays first-class cricket as vice-captain of the Western Warriors in Australia and has played for three counties in England.
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 Sheffield Shield. 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.Hussey Initailly was a Right Handed Batsmen when he first started playing the game but then turned himself into a left hander as he is greatly inspired by Allan Border. 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".
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 career batting average in Tests being around 60 (and between 2006 and 2008 hovering between 75 and 85) and in ODIs just under 60. His Test average is the highest among contemporary batsmen. 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 is a very occasional medium pace bowler, only bowling 28 overs in his test career, 23 of then in 2008. He is brought into the attack usually to give the pace bowlers a rest, but 1 time in India he was brought in to stop Ricky Ponting getting a one match ban for a slow over rate. On December 28, 2008, Day 3 of the Boxing Day test, he got his first test wicket, Paul Harris caught by Mitchell Johnson. He ended with figures of 1/22. He has taken two wickets in One Day Internationals.
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.
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).
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 18 April 2006 Hussey set a record as the fastest player in terms of time to reach 1000 Test runs He reached the milestone in just 166 days.
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 2nd 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.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-Muralitharan 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.
Hussey claimed his first test wicket against South Africa on the third day of the 2008 Boxing Day Test at the MCG, when Paul Harris skied a ball over Mitchell Johnson's head and Johnson ran back and took a running catch as the ball fell down past his shoulder.
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 9 October 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 6 February 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 3 November 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 and on 18 September 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.
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.
In the first ODI of the 2008 Bangladesh ODI series, Hussey top-scored with 85 and received the man-of-the-match award. This coincided with his rise to second in the Reliance Mobile ICC ODI Player Rankings.
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 Knight Riders and Australia.
Michael Hussey has chosen to play for his IPL team Chennai Super Kings instead of his Australian state side Western Warriors in the upcoming Champions Twenty20 League in December.
“It has not sat comfortably with me, and I agonised over that decision for quite some time, But it sort of came down to three or four different reasons” said Hussey.
“I played for the Chennai Super Kings in the IPL in the first four games and helped them to qualify for the Champions League, so I sort of feel an allegiance towards them in that respect.”
“Also, I have never played a Twenty20 game for the Western Warriors and hence didn’t help them achieve the Champions League status. I think I would be taking away the place of a young Western Australian to be able to play in the tournament which should be a very exciting tournament to be involved in. I also believe that the Western Warriors will be financially rewarded by allowing me to play for the Chennai Super Kings.
