Cricinfo - Players and Officials

Full name Michael Edward Killeen Hussey
Born May 27, 1975, Morley, Western Australia
Current age 32 years 356 days
Major teams Australia, Chennai Super Kings, 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

Batting and fielding averages
	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	BF	SR	100	50	4s	6s	Ct
Tests	22	36	8	2188	182	78.14	4158	52.62	8	8	238	15	20
ODIs	85	64	26	2113	109*	55.60	2429	86.99	2	12	164	38	49
T20Is	12	7	1	137	37	22.83	106	129.24	0	0	11	6	8
First-class	201	359	36	17672	331*	54.71			47	77			222
List A	277	249	52	8687	123	44.09	11412	76.12	11	62			141
Twenty20	24	18	3	652	116*	43.46	491	132.79	1	3	59	22	16

Bowling averages
	Mat	Inns	Balls	Runs	Wkts	BBI	BBM	Ave	Econ	SR	4w	5w	10
Tests	22	4	30	23	0	-	-	-	4.60	-	0	0	0
ODIs	85	9	192	167	2	1/22	1/22	83.50	5.21	96.0	0	0	0
T20Is	12	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
First-class	201		1470	795	20	3/34		39.75	3.24	73.5		0	0
List A	277		738	761	20	3/52	3/52	38.05	6.18	36.9	0	0	0
Twenty20	24	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Career statistics
Test debut	Australia v West Indies at Brisbane, Nov 3-6, 2005 scorecard
Last Test	Australia v India at Adelaide, Jan 24-28, 2008 scorecard
Test statistics
ODI debut	Australia v India at Perth, Feb 1, 2004 scorecard
Last ODI	Australia v India at Brisbane, Mar 4, 2008 scorecard
ODI statistics
T20I debut	New Zealand v Australia at Auckland, Feb 17, 2005 scorecard
Last T20I	Australia v India at Melbourne, Feb 1, 2008 scorecard
T20I statistics
First-class debut	1994/95
Last First-class	Australia v India at Adelaide, Jan 24-28, 2008 scorecard
List A debut	1996/97
Last List A	Australia v India at Brisbane, Mar 4, 2008 scorecard
Twenty20 debut	Worcestershire v Northamptonshire at Worcester, Jun 13, 2003 scorecard
Last Twenty20	Bangalore Royal Challengers v Chennai Super Kings at Bangalore, Apr 28, 2008 scorecard

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.

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 was only a few rungs below Sir Don's and he is trying not to fall from greatness.

The one-day campaign was less productive and by the end of the World Cup he had been through his first glitch in an extraordinary international career. 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. 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. His sky-high standards slipped slightly in 2006-07, but he remains a central and versatile figure.
Cricinfo staff August 2007