How good a captain is Hussey?

[Armadillo]

3 games and 3 losses as captain. For someone nicknamed 'Mr Cricket' he doesn't appear to have the same affect on this talent side as Ricky Ponting (under whom Australia have been formidable in ODIs).

I haven't been watching the Chappell-Hadlee series so I was wondering if people could enlighten me as to whether it is actually a weakness in Hussey's captaincy that is causing Australia's downfall or is a contributary factor.

And if so, what is he doing wrong?

 

[Simon]

he could hardly be blamed for what happened in game 1 of the CH series. Yesterday it's hard to say, the pitch was a belter and most of the bowlers struggled, i think he made the right calls as to who to bowl when. I dont think he did too much different as to what Ponting would have done, maybe thats the problem in itself he didnt really try to stamp his authority on the game as captain. He's scored 2 hundreds in his 3 games as captain so you cant say he doesnt lead from the front.

I doubt we'll ever see him as fulltime captain of Australia because of his age anyway.

 

[Smudge]

Eden Park is a horrible place for a visiting captain, with the angles and boundary lengths - I thought he was slighty reactive in his captaincy, but he was largely let down by his bowlers, who bowled some pretty poor lines.

 

[Richard]

3 games is nothing to judge a captain on.

And IMO Hussey hasn't done anything wrong - the team just happen to have been pretty poor when he happens to have captained them.

 

[Prince EWS]

3 games is nothing to judge a captain on.

And IMO Hussey hasn't done anything wrong - the team just happen to have been pretty poor when he happens to have captained them.

Have you watched the games Richard?

His field placings have been nothing short of disgraceful. Obviously you can put some of that back on the bowlers for not bowling to their fields, but he seems to react to each and every shot by changing the field dramatically - forcing the bowler to change his plans regularly and never get into a rhythm. To add to that, the changes that should be reactive - as in, moving fielders and few metres but keeping them in the same fielding position based on where a batsman hits a particular shot - simply have never come. When NZ were 0/70 and needed 80 to win, he brought Watson on and took all the slips out.. the first ball he bowled when straight through where first slip would be for four. Surely wickets were needed. He kept a ridiculously straight mid/long on for Fulton despite the fact that he always hits the shot more towards straight midwicket. There simply seemed to be no fielders on the square boundries in that first CH series game when Fleming and Vincent were batting so I assumed they were all having a tea party down at long off/on. Fleming finally chipped one down there, and there was no-one withing 20 metres. He had been moving the fielders from shot to shot reactively so Vincent and Fleming simply hit the ball somewhere else the next time. The poor bowlers had no idea what their plans actually were.

His bowling changes have been better than his field placings, but they still haven't been all that flash. Having Hogg bowl two of the last ten overs was ridiculous and he paid the price for it. Bowling Cameron White at the time he did proved dividends as well, and it was clearly the only thing he could have done to let NZ back into the game at the time - so he did it of course.

These last two matches have been the most disgraceful displays of captaincy I have ever seen at international level really. I doubt it had much of an effect on the first CH series game other than the margin of victory, but things could have been very different in the second with a better captaincy display.

 

[Johnners]

Top post (Y)

 

[Richard]

Have you watched the games Richard?

His field placings have been nothing short of disgraceful. Obviously you can put some of that back on the bowlers for not bowling to their fields, but he seems to react to each and every shot by changing the field dramatically - forcing the bowler to change his plans regularly and never get into a rhythm. To add to that, the changes that should be reactive - as in, moving fielders and few metres but keeping them in the same fielding position based on where a batsman hits a particular shot - simply have never come. When NZ were 0/70 and needed 80 to win, he brought Watson on and took all the slips out.. the first ball he bowled when straight through where first slip would be for four. Surely wickets were needed. He kept a ridiculously straight mid/long on for Fulton despite the fact that he always hits the shot more towards straight midwicket. There simply seemed to be no fielders on the square boundries in that first CH series game when Fleming and Vincent were batting so I assumed they were all having a tea party down at long off/on. Fleming finally chipped one down there, and there was no-one withing 20 metres. He had been moving the fielders from shot to shot reactively so Vincent and Fleming simply hit the ball somewhere else the next time. The poor bowlers had no idea what their plans actually were.

His bowling changes have been better than his field placings, but they still haven't been all that flash. Having Hogg bowl two of the last ten overs was ridiculous and he paid the price for it. Bowling Cameron White at the time he did proved dividends as well, and it was clearly the only thing he could have done to let NZ back into the game at the time - so he did it of course.

These last two matches have been the most disgraceful displays of captaincy I have ever seen at international level really. I doubt it had much of an effect on the first CH series game other than the margin of victory, but things could have been very different in the second with a better captaincy display.

OK, fair noof for the most part (no, I haven't watched the NZ innings live in either game and didn't see the WI game in the DLF Cup) but I can assure you I've seen far worse captaincy than the things you name there!

 

[Jono]

As bad as Hussey was yesterday, I think the WI game in Malasyia was was further evidence that he's not exactly the best skipper when on the field, defending a score anyway. His bowling changes in that game, IIRC, were pretty ordinary.

He seems to be able to ton up with the captaincy, but can't win a game.

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

As bad as Hussey was yesterday, I think the WI game in Malasyia was was further evidence that he's not exactly the best skipper when on the field, defending a score anyway. His bowling changes in that game, IIRC, were pretty ordinary.

He seems to be able to ton up with the captaincy, but can't win a game.

Yeah, the game against the West Indies was enough to convince me that at the very least he wasn't a good captain yet. It was definitely the poorest of the three. The C-H games, particularly the second one yesterday, just confirmed that.

Puts a bit of a question mark over the "a monkey could captain Australia" claims, really.

 

[pasag]

Was just thinking that whenever Hussey captains, it means two of our best players are out. Don't know if that has much to do with anything though.

He was poor yesterday but I suppose he'd get much better with time, although I doubt he'll have many more opportunities with Ponting coming back, so we'll never reaally know.

 

[pup11]

I think hussey is a shocker as a captain, his field placements are poor and his bowling changes are very predictable.

 

[FRAZ]

He applied spinners at the wrong time plus his field placing was also not very good most of the times . For me a bowler with some extra pace and average spinners on a flat pitch are a sure shot package of 70 runs plus if the ground is smaller then make it 80 . Thats what happened . Good old Imran has said that even if your batsmen score tons of runs ,if you don't have world class bowlers then forget the victory cuz every thing is achievable at this international level . I guess that Hussey clearly drifted the game along and never looked confident enough to bring in the basic strike bowlers at the right time or even making some wicket taking field changes . It is quite early to say if he is a bad captain but he sure looks bad ,hmmm he is atleast better than potato !

 

[pasag]

He applied spinners at the wrong time plus his field placing was also not very good most of the times . For me a bowler with some extra pace and average spinners on a flat pitch are a sure shot package of 70 runs plus if the ground is smaller then make it 80 . Thats what happened . Good old Imran has said that even if your batsmen score tons of runs ,if you don't have world class bowlers then forget the victory cuz every thing is achievable at this international level . I guess that Hussey clearly drifted the game along and never looked confident enough to bring in the basic strike bowlers at the right time or even making some wicket taking field changes . It is quite early to say if he is a bad captain but he sure looks bad ,hmmm he is atleast better than potato !

I*****?

 

[FRAZ]

I*****?

well done me ! Slowly but surely people are understanding the verses of profanity against the social cricket monster . hate you I*** ,hate you more than any other thing in the world !!!

 

[Fiery]

well done me ! Slowly but surely people are understanding the verses of profanity against the social cricket monster . hate you I*** ,hate you more than any other thing in the world !!!

"Hate" is a very strong 4-letter word Fraz

 

[The Baconator]

Has Hussey captained WA or any counties at all?

IIRC he was Durham skipper in 05 when he wasn't in the Natwest Series.

 

[Richard]

Puts a bit of a question mark over the "a monkey could captain Australia" claims, really.

With 5 or 6 top players missing...?

I'd say the monkey or even Allan Border or Mark Taylor might struggle a bit more in said circumstances.

 

[Richard]

Has Hussey captained WA or any counties at all?

IIRC he was Durham skipper in 05 when he wasn't in the Natwest Series.

I think he's captained just about everyone he's played for. Maybe not Gloucs, but certainly Northants and Durham.

 

[open365]

I can't coment on Hussey's captaincy in those 3 games, but something about him makes me think he'd automaticaly be a great leader, mainly because he's great at everything else and seems to have a great temprament.

 

[Richard]

Like Brian Lara?

Or Shaun Pollock?

Or Alec Stewart?

I concur that he seems to have all said attributes but so do many and don't make especially good captains (albeit none of the above 3 are perfect examples, because Stewart and Pollock were sacked in very harsh circumstances and Lara has, finally, made a decent fist of the captaincy).