Michael Hussey - Michael Hussey: Underneath the Southern Cross

This ebook published in 2013 by Hardie Grant Books
Published in print in 2013 by Hardie Grant Books

Hardie Grant Books (Australia)
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Copyright text Michael Hussey 2013

Cataloguing-in-Publication data is available from the National Library of Australia.

Underneath the Southern Cross
eISBN: 9781743581025

Publisher: Pam Brewster
Cover and print text design: Luke Causby/Blue Cork
Digital editor: Hannah Koelmeyer
Statistics: Ross Dundas
Cover photographs: Getty Images

I dedicate this book to Amy, Jasmin, William, Molly and Oscar for inspiring me to be better every day.

I would like to give thanks to my mum and dad, for their support and guidance over the course of my life so far. Thank you to Amy and her extended family for their love, support and help over my cricket career, which took me away from home for up to eleven months a year. Thank you to all of my teammates and coaches, with whom I have spent the best part of twenty years travelling the world, playing a game we all love very much. My best memories of playing cricket have been because of you. A big thanks to the fans; the support for the team and players is a huge source of inspiration and motivation to perform well for the team and the country. Thanks too to the WACA and Cricket Australia. Thank you to Neil Maxwell and Judie Anderson, who have been advisors, counsellors, confidants, but most of all good friends over the journey. Lastly, I would like to thank Malcolm Knox for helping me compile my story. Many hours on Skype while away on tour in India have produced a book that I am extremely proud of, and without your guidance it certainly would not have been possible.

It was a throwaway line, and I only meant it tongue-in-cheek. But Michael Husseys reaction says a lot about the type of cricketer he is.

I was coach of an Australia A tour to Scotland and Ireland in 1998. Michael was one of a group of outstanding young cricketers who couldnt break into a very strong Test XI. Its not too parochial to say that Australia A was just about the second-best team in the world.

We had a training session in Edinburgh, and the boys were resting after short hit-outs in the nets. I said something along the lines of, Its no good batting for fifteen minutes in the nets and thinking you can put it together for six hours in the middle. Practise as you want to play. To be honest, I dont remember it very well, and am sure I didnt mean it literally, but there was one player who took my half-joking remark and ran with it.

Some time later, I heard that Michael Hussey had gone back home to Perth and followed my advice, batting for three two-hour net sessions in an exact replica of a full days play, and telling people he was only doing what Id told him!

Jokes aside, there is a serious lesson there, one of many that a young cricketer can learn from Michael. He was always wondering, Whats going to make me a better player? And once he found it, he would go to any lengths to achieve it.

There are many such lessons from Michaels extraordinary story. After waiting so long to become a Test cricketer in his thirties, he ended up being an outstanding international batsman not just in Test matches but also in one-day and Twenty20 cricket. In 2013, after retiring from the international scene, he was the top run-scorer in the Indian Premier League, which is amazing in itself. Any young cricketer who wants to find out what makes a great career, in all formats, would do well to read Michaels story.

When I first came across him, I was near the end of my playing career and he was at the beginning of his. Queensland was playing Western Australia at the Gabba in 199596. Michael, who was opening the batting, was very fidgety. He reminded me of Graeme Wood, the former West Australian Test opener. He never stopped moving: shuffling about, marking his crease, walking towards square leg. But although he was nervous, and didnt rate himself as highly as his peers, I was immediately impressed and thought his quality stood out. Oppositions see a different character from how the individual sees himself, and we had a healthy respect for Michaels batting. We could tell he was intense and passionate, well prepared and fit, and it all came through in his actions. I cant remember how many runs he scored in that first game, but there was something about him.

When I coached Australia A, he got involved in the team environment with typical enthusiasm. Sometimes a game of touch Australian rules was the only way to get the boys training in the cold weather in Scotland and Ireland. In games that quickly descended into tackle, Michael was in the thick of it, loving every minute. But he was still very modest and respectful. He says he was too shy to tell me that he had become a left-handed batsman because as a kid hed decided to copy me. I guess were both embarrassed by that sort of thing, but some years later, once hed loosened up and grown more comfortable, Michael revealed the truth.

He had his ups and downs before realising his dreams. I was a national selector during that very rich period for Australian cricket, and Michael had to wait a long while. He was even sent back to club cricket after being dropped by Western Australia, so it was by no means an easy road. But he studied hard for his university degree in education, giving himself a fall-back position if cricket didnt work out. Marriage and fatherhood also helped make him a very well-rounded character by the time he became an international cricketer.

I am among the millions of Australians who took great pleasure from his success. The cricket public has an innate ability to recognise an Aussie battler doing his best, no rubbish, no pretentions. They see Michael as what he is, a good bloke who works hard, and they want him to do well. His popularity comes down to that whole package: he played well, hes very humble, hes intelligent in his dealings with the public, and hes always ready with an encouraging smile. That he spent all those years battling away to get to the top made it that much more rewarding when he did.

Off the field, Michael celebrates as joyously as anyone, has a great sense of humour and sense of fun, and is an all-round good bloke who has contributed to every team he has played in. Australian cricket really misses him. Lets hope that his experience can be utilised to the utmost. Michael is very much the prototype of the modern cricketer, adapting seamlessly between the three formats, while also playing the game for the right reasons.

Michael deserves strong recognition for the role he has played in Australian cricket over the years. He is a cricketer and a man for whom I have the greatest respect. These pages tell his extraordinary story.

What was that saying? Something about good things coming to those who wait.