Proof you don't give up on Mike Hussey

IT'S hard to believe it's as recent as two years ago that Michael Hussey's international career was hanging by a thread.

IT'S hard to believe it's as recent as two years ago that Michael Hussey's international career was hanging by a thread, just one Sheffield Shield failure from obliteration.

Now he's the master of rescue acts, regularly saving the Australian team.

He specialises in anything from solid defence to six-hitting, with a bit of tip and run in between. He employs all these skills to extract his team from trouble in any form of the game, from Test cricket through to Twenty20.

He's the most versatile batsman in the game and at a similar age where Ricky Ponting has retired and Sachin Tendulkar should consider doing the same, Hussey is thriving, notching up another century yesterday against Sri Lanka at Bellerive.

Captain Michael Clarke and Hussey have become the specialist removal company; early wickets are lost and this pair arrive to cart away the problems. The big question is can the selectors cobble together a suitable top order in time to ensure they don't have to keep performing the same miracles against a strong and versatile English attack?

There's no doubt that Clarke and Hussey can score runs against all bowling. However, can they do it consistently when confronted by an English attack that under their conditions is stronger than the much-vaunted South Africans?

Australia need to hope that the first glimpse of Phil Hughes' revamped technique is a good sign of what is to come. He looked much more assured and was covering off-stump like a doona on a cold night. He's always known how to make runs; each step on the climb to Test cricket he's been successful and even at the highest level he's shown he can turn a start into a century.

Hussey

If Hughes is looking for inspiration in his latest reincarnation as a Test player then he need peer no further than three spots down the order. Hussey is also left-handed, he's motivated, he's technically efficient and has an unquenchable thirst for runs; a blueprint for success that he would do well to scrutinise.

Hughes will never have the watertight technique of Hussey and it's doubtful anyone could possess his boundless energy, but copying his self-motivation would be a good start.

In what is perhaps a sign that process is underway, I ran into Hughes the other night in the company of Hussey and fellow teammates Nathan Lyon and Peter Siddle.

Whether he's defiantly involved in a Test recovery act or belting sixes to complete a thrilling T20 victory, Hussey gives his all for the team. No wonder he's a popular and valued teammate.

He was at it again at Bellerive, doing battle with a persistent Sri Lankan attack on a pitch of occasionally unpredictable bounce, projecting the team into a strong position.

The faster Australian bowlers could pose serious problems for the Sri Lankan batsmen as the game unfolds.

For two years now he's been the backbone of the Australian middle-order.

And to think he was just one Shield century from international oblivion.

The selectors will be hoping his form holds at least through the Ashes series because it's hard to imagine Australia threatening England without the Clarke and Hussey revival show performing at its best against England.