Can Hussey be the 2nd greatest ever?

[vcs]

me too zaremba. he belongs in the vengsarkar, boon, richardson category and not the lara, ponting, sachin league.

No, he's still in the Chanderpaul/Dravid league for me. But he has to get his act together quickly and score big in some of the upcoming series because he isn't very young and his place has got to be under a bit of threat now. Got a couple of tough decisions in this series to be fair, but one has to admit he isn't batting particularly well ATM despite his bad luck.

 

[zaremba]

When I've seen him play he's always struck me as a mighty fine player, always in control, very hard to get out (unless he's leaving it on off stump, obv) and with some wonderful attacking shots. But I was always irritated by his unbelievably high batting average and have been willing it down for years.

 

[fredfertang]

When I've seen him play he's always struck me as a mighty fine player, always in control, very hard to get out (unless he's leaving it on off stump, obv) and with some wonderful attacking shots. But I was always irritated by his unbelievably high batting average and have been willing it down for years.

ditto - I think it's because we all accept and live with the fact that the man who was undoubtedly the greatest batsman the game has seen is Australian

But it would be very hard to swallow if Australia could irrefutably claim the second greatest as well which, if Hussey had carried on averaging 80, they could have

 

[Black_Warrior]

Was interesting recently in a poll that quite a few people had Hussey as the better batsman out of a choice of him, Gambhir, Clarke and KP.

All Hussey's career consists of is bashing rubbish attacks at home. He's acheived virtually nothing of substance away from his home tracks against decent to good bowling. Quite similar to Gambhir, yet no-one voted for Gambhir, yet quite a few voted for Hussey.

Very interesting but not surprising....There was this whole period from 2005-2007-08 when Hussey was this unstoppable run machine..or at least the perception was that he was this unstoppable run machine..he was being called Mr Cricket and what not.. In fact, I was quite surprised when you said that he has done nothing of substance away from home and I had to go and check his record on Cricinfo.. I would have expected him to have a better record away from home although averaging 48 and 44 in England and India are not necessarily piss poor.
Lot of it is subconscious though.. When you hear about some guy scoring runs like a machine and averaging over 70, you automatically start thinking of him as great.

But the OP didn't ask for any interpretation, it was purely a statistical question...

I was talking to Jono

No, he's still in the Chanderpaul/Dravid league for me. But he has to get his act together quickly and score big in some of the upcoming series because he isn't very young and his place has got to be under a bit of threat now. Got a couple of tough decisions in this series to be fair, but one has to admit he isn't batting particularly well ATM despite his bad luck.

Now that he has been so disappointing in the last two test matches, its a bit hard to place him in the Chanderpaul/Dravid category although I probably would have placed him there earlier.. Having said that..if Marcus North can retain his place for so long..I think Hussey has done much more and deserves some more time. He should be fine at home against England.

 

[popepouri]

Michael Hussey's case is a classic example that illustrates how isolated statistics, statistics without context and small sample sizes can often be misinterpretted.

Hussey if a fine player...but just because he averaged 86 at one point does not place him in the same category as Wally Hammond.

It is important to look at someone's body of work, over a certain period of time and that places things in perspective.

I agree. We can now take the Mr. Cricket nickname in it's context.

 

[Migara]

Is Pietersen going down the same route ah Hussey? At least Pietersen is lot younger than Hussey. But I've always felt that these two are 45 - 50 average category, not a genuine 50+ category.

 

[Dissector]

So will Hussey be replaced or what? I guess the one thing that might save him is he had a pretty good summer at home last year against West Indies and Pakistan and his failures since then have been away. Also would Australia really want to try a new batsman during the Ashes especially when the rest of their middle order is also looking pretty shaky?

 

[outbreak]

Unfourtantnly north made his hundred in the last match. They need to try something out to bring a spark to the line up. Khawaja's double makes him look good....

 

[AaronK]

I agree. We can now take the Mr. Cricket nickname in it's context.

Didn't he give up that name? I heard during Pak Aus series in England.. commentators were saying that he doesn't like to be called mr. Cricket anymore..

Pakistan is Hussey's Bunny.. lets just go with that.. first sydney test and then Semi final of 20/20 world cup.. pak fan probably hate this guy more than any other cricketer in the world..

 

[AaronK]

So will Hussey be replaced or what? I guess the one thing that might save him is he had a pretty good summer at home last year against West Indies and Pakistan and his failures since then have been away. Also would Australia really want to try a new batsman during the Ashes especially when the rest of their middle order is also looking pretty shaky?

North was given to many chances.. so I am hoping that Hussey would get afew more matches before he is kicked.. but honestly i didn't know he is that old.. him and Katich.. both i thought they might be in their late 20s..

 

[aussie]

Is Pietersen going down the same route ah Hussey? At least Pietersen is lot younger than Hussey. But I've always felt that these two are 45 - 50 average category, not a genuine 50+ category.

Nah i dont believe KP will go down the same route as Hussey.

But i do believe KP given his style of batting, may end of short of true greatness & average between 45-50 when he career ends.

 

[NUFAN]

If Hussey can score 35 more runs today, he will have reached 5000 career Test runs in his 62nd Test and 107th innings.


DG Bradman (Aus) 36 56
JB Hobbs (Eng) 55 91
GS Sobers (WI) 56 95
SM Gavaskar (India) 52 95
IVA Richards (WI) 64 95
ML Hayden (Aus) 55 95
WR Hammond (Eng) 59 97
KF Barrington (Eng) 61 97
L Hutton (Eng) 55 98
V Sehwag (ICC/India) 59 99
SR Tendulkar (India) 67 103
BC Lara (WI) 61 104
RN Harvey (Aus) 61 105
GS Chappell (Aus) 60 106
KC Sangakkara (SL) 64 106
Younis Khan (Pak) 59 106
RB Kanhai (WI) 61 107
Javed Miandad (Pak) 68 107
KP Pietersen (Eng) 60 107

Not a bad reasonably small group to belong to especially when you consider the number of batsman with 5000 runs who are not included in the list above.

 

[miscer]

no doubt, good job hussey. 52 is a fine average. obvs he wasn't going to have a career average of 86. i mean really did he look good enough to justify that average? was he, during that period, making ponting, lara and tendulkar look like children? idk but i highly doubt it...

 

[smash84]

Hussey for some 30 odd tests in the beginning of his career seemed like a god among men. Looked almost impossible to dislodge

 

[centurymaker]

Hussey for some 30 odd tests in the beginning of his career seemed like a god among men. Looked almost impossible to dislodge

but was he destroying bowlers? no.

 

[robelinda]

but was he destroying bowlers? no.

Sometimes.....this was a great innings, smashes em for the 2nd half of the innings.

Hussey and McGrath partnership vs South Africa 2005 - YouTube

 

[Ikki]

Hussey for some 30 odd tests in the beginning of his career seemed like a god among men. Looked almost impossible to dislodge

AWTA. Looked inhuman on the offside during that period. Was imperious really.

Then he started getting out nicking balls around there.

 

[smash84]

I guess it was just one of those times where Hussey could play with so much confidence since he knew that even if he failed the Aussie juggernaut would still be carried home by others.

 

[JBMAC]

If Hussey can score 35 more runs today, he will have reached 5000 career Test runs in his 62nd Test and 107th innings.


DG Bradman (Aus) 36 56
JB Hobbs (Eng) 55 91
GS Sobers (WI) 56 95
SM Gavaskar (India) 52 95
IVA Richards (WI) 64 95
ML Hayden (Aus) 55 95
WR Hammond (Eng) 59 97
KF Barrington (Eng) 61 97
L Hutton (Eng) 55 98
V Sehwag (ICC/India) 59 99
SR Tendulkar (India) 67 103
BC Lara (WI) 61 104
RN Harvey (Aus) 61 105
GS Chappell (Aus) 60 106
KC Sangakkara (SL) 64 106
Younis Khan (Pak) 59 106
RB Kanhai (WI) 61 107
Javed Miandad (Pak) 68 107
KP Pietersen (Eng) 60 107

Not a bad reasonably small group to belong to especially when you consider the number of batsman with 5000 runs who are not included in the list above.

He really was a cut above the rest wasn't he?

 

[Furball]

AWTA. Looked inhuman on the offside during that period. Was imperious really.

Then he started facing decent attacks away from home.

Fixed