Countdown to Mr. Cricket's average below 50

[Dhondy]

Good innings ... still think he will be one of the players facing the chap. out of their batsman everyone did ok and in some case overperformed (North, Katich, Watson). The chop comes on a highly overrated player ... in any case. I am more interested to see how the Assies deal with Ponting.

There will be no chop. The Aussies don't do business that way. Hussey will go from strength to strength from here on, having rediscovered his mojo under enormous presure. Australia simply need to adopt a horses for courses with their bowling attack- they will be just fine. The reason Australia lose is because they dare to lose. They have the highest proportion of yay/nay results among any side playing cricket. They don't steer to avoid icebergs, go for the open seas, and sometimes flounder. I wish my side played cricket like that. Just as a sidelight, you guys fascinate me. You are quick to stand by Dravid or Sachin through their lean periods, which is admirable, but the moment another side's great is down, stick the boot in. "Ponting's a rubbish captain" (although it isn't him that insisted on setting up a 600+ chase that cost his team a win from a position of huge domination), "scores useless 4th innings knocks, while Tendulkar scores his pearls on the up and down tracks". "Hussey should be dropped, while we carry on ad infinitum with our Dravids...." Man! Talk about double standards.

[Mr. Wicket]

There will be no chop. The Aussies don't do business that way. Hussey will go from strength to strength from here on, having rediscovered his mojo under enormous presure. Australia simply need to adopt a horses for courses with their bowling attack- they will be just fine. The reason Australia lose is because they dare to lose. They have the highest proportion of yay/nay results among any side playing cricket. They don't steer to avoid icebergs, go for the open seas, and sometimes flounder. I wish my side played cricket like that.

I think we're blurring eras. In the old Waugh days and the first half of the Ponting era under McGrath/Warne, they lost because they would dare. Remember Gilchrist declaring at Leeds in 01 and letting England chase just over 300 because of their sheer self belief they could defend it? Or that aggressive, hell for leather approach at Adelaide because they wanted to post a big target and try and create a result? Some of the players still have that mindset, others have adopted it. But this team simply is not as good as the Australian teams that have come before it in the last 15 years, has a lot more limitations and does not yet realize how to play within them when appropriate. Hence why we're seeing so many collapses like at Lord's, Edgbaston and on day 2 at the Oval. Several batsmen fell to stupid hook and pull shots at Lord's not because they were being 'daring' - they just weren't able to cope with the short ball, and lacked the maturity to avoid playing it a la SRW despite it being a big self-destruct button in front of them.

"Ponting's a rubbish captain" (although it isn't him that insisted on setting up a 600+ chase that cost his team a win from a position of huge domination), "scores useless 4th innings knocks, while Tendulkar scores his pearls on the up and down tracks". "Hussey should be dropped, while we carry on ad infinitum with our Dravids...." Man! Talk about double standards.

I'll write something up on Ponting in the next day or two. But as I've stressed over the last few years (there's a thread of mine on the VTCB that dates back before the 2005 Ashes criticizing his captaincy heavily), he's simply not that good a captain. He did well with players who needed no leadership as they were that good and mature. But he's another Kim Hughes, an outstanding batsman that's glorious to watch but incapable of really leading a side. (Oh for a Mark Taylor, with a far more humble average but a mind paralleled by no other captain in the last 20 years.)

[sm332]

There will be no chop. The Aussies don't do business that way. Hussey will go from strength to strength from here on, having rediscovered his mojo under enormous presure. Australia simply need to adopt a horses for courses with their bowling attack- they will be just fine. The reason Australia lose is because they dare to lose. They have the highest proportion of yay/nay results among any side playing cricket. They don't steer to avoid icebergs, go for the open seas, and sometimes flounder. I wish my side played cricket like that. Just as a sidelight, you guys fascinate me. You are quick to stand by Dravid or Sachin through their lean periods, which is admirable, but the moment another side's great is down, stick the boot in. "Ponting's a rubbish captain" (although it isn't him that insisted on setting up a 600+ chase that cost his team a win from a position of huge domination), "scores useless 4th innings knocks, while Tendulkar scores his pearls on the up and down tracks". "Hussey should be dropped, while we carry on ad infinitum with our Dravids...." Man! Talk about double standards.

You are entitled to your opinion. I think Hussey has shown up to be a slightly above average player who had a great 3 years. His away record is just ok ... he makes runs at home. I am not giong to go into how flat Oz wickets are. Yes Australia are more prone to win/lose. While that is nice ... a weaker team means they are going to have to get used to losing a lot more often. Dont assume who I am willing to stand by ... you paint everyone with far too broad a brush. I have criticized India aplenty when we havent manned up and taken the bull by the horns. You can continue your Oz lovefest.... fact of the matter is they lost a series in which they led in every statistical category because they lost virtually all the make or break moments. Champion sides takes those chances by the cojones ... this side will lose a lot more before it goes back up. Probably good for world cricket as we can expect to see some really competitive series between 1-5.

[Shehezaada]

Just as a sidelight, you guys fascinate me. You are quick to stand by Dravid or Sachin through their lean periods, which is admirable, but the moment another side's great is down, stick the boot in.

Your comparing Dravid and Tendulkar, men with a combined 300 Test Caps or something like that to someone who's 42 tests old. Greatness isn't measured by 42 test matches.

[Ram]

Well, he did respond with a 100, but honestly whats the point of it? Right now, Mike Hussey is doing just enough to keep his place in the side - has a string of low scores and when there's talk of dropping him, responds with a 50 or as in this occasion, a 100 - but he is not in the side just to keep his place in it. He is there to score runs when the team needs it. And he has not being doing that. This is the trap all of us fall into most times. Whenever a batsman is out of form, there's talk of replacing him and then he scores runs, much of the debate about his place in the team dies down. And that is wrong. In fact, the real debate about how well he is doing should actually start then. We faced a similar situation with Dravid during much of last year. He didnt do much in the series against Australia at home or the series in Sri Lanka, but managed to eek out a 100 against England in a drawn test.

[Bradman99]

Man, Hussey chimes in with a big score on the last innings ? Why couldn't he do that throughout the rest of the series.. Now that he has got a big score he's certain to stay in the team.. He'd better not keep his crap form going though because it really really has cost us. Number 4 is a very important position, you can't afford consistent low scores.

[kabira]

When I see Hussey, he reminds me of Allan Border. Chipku type batsman. I still think he has lot to offer to Australia and they need him for sure. They don't have any ready replacement. Probably they can move Clarke to 4 and drop Hussey to 5.

[siddhu]

When I see Hussey, he reminds me of Allan Border. Chipku type batsman. I still think he has lot to offer to Australia and they need him for sure. They don't have any ready replacement. Probably they can move Clarke to 4 and drop Hussey to 5.

For me.. Waugh was the Border type... extremely chipku... I don't know, but for whatever reason whenever we played M.ussey during recent times he has not been that successful. Only people I was usually scared of during India-Aus series in the recent time was Hayden and Michael Clarke (or Clark.. whatever).

[The Outsider]

At 50.32 now. :D My back of the envelope calculations tell me that anything less than 74 runs for two dismissals at Bangalore should do the trick!

[f.b.m]

The surprising thing is that he hasnt changed a single thing about his batting since 07-08 when he was in great form and has no weakness that bowlers can 'target' and still his average is on a one-way street.

[fineleg]

what is 'chipku'? Dogged?

[putrevus]

Hussey is classic case of Aussies selection policy flaw, getting selected to team at age of 30 when most batsmen are in their peak they play just for four or five years then team needs to start looking for replacements. if they get dropped there is no question of making a come back to side.They are gone for good.Same case with North he started with bang and he is also over 30 if he out they need to start looking for no6 again there will be no continuity for the team and performance of the team will go down with constant changes. For a decade they almost had same batting lineup that made them strong like what India has now.

[vvvslaxman]

Thanks to Kamran Akmal and Saeed Ajmal he is still in the squad :cantstop:

[Mamu]

I think we're blurring eras. In the old Waugh days and the first half of the Ponting era under McGrath/Warne' date=' they lost because they would dare. Remember Gilchrist declaring at Leeds in 01 and letting England chase just over 300 because of their sheer self belief they could defend it? Or that aggressive,[b'] hell for leather approach at Adelaide because they wanted to post a big target and try and create a result? Some of the players still have that mindset, others have adopted it. But this team simply is not as good as the Australian teams that have come before it in the last 15 years, has a lot more limitations and does not yet realize how to play within them when appropriate. Hence why we're seeing so many collapses like at Lord's, Edgbaston and on day 2 at the Oval. Several batsmen fell to stupid hook and pull shots at Lord's not because they were being 'daring' - they just weren't able to cope with the short ball, and lacked the maturity to avoid playing it a la SRW despite it being a big self-destruct button in front of them. I'll write something up on Ponting in the next day or two. But as I've stressed over the last few years (there's a thread of mine on the VTCB that dates back before the 2005 Ashes criticizing his captaincy heavily), he's simply not that good a captain. He did well with players who needed no leadership as they were that good and mature. But he's another Kim Hughes, an outstanding batsman that's glorious to watch but incapable of really leading a side. (Oh for a Mark Taylor, with a far more humble average but a mind paralleled by no other captain in the last 20 years.)

They did not go for leather there. They were simply outdone by some great swing bowling by Sir Aggy. Australia toned down a lot after 2001 - 2002. Before that -- yes

[IT_Anxiety_NJIT]

Mike Hussey is a great player and very humble like Dravid. I think he will retire after Ashes and should be replaced by Khawaja or Ferguson.

[Bradman99]

Mike Hussey is a great player and very humble like Dravid. I think he will retire after Ashes and should be replaced by Khawaja or Ferguson.

Agreed.

[ravishingravi]

I want his to do well after this tour. He is a great guy and a fanastic criketer. I have never been that much into averages.

[saneindian]

Returns to Bangalore where he made a career saving 140 odd. Lets pile on the agony this time.

[Karan114]

Returns to Bangalore where he made a career saving 140 odd. Lets pile on the agony this time.

:haha: Dude, he was averaging almost 70 at the time. His place was cast iron certain back then.

[ZodiaC]

End of honeymoon, babes :bye: Very good player though. Don't want to perform against us, he can continue bashing pakis and ingerland :D