Mike Hussey to retire at end of summer.

[Jono]

Very poor timing, but it's his career I guess.

Certainly less than ideal for the team though. I suppose he doesn't owe them anything but it would have been nice if he gave an inclination.

Yeah I love Huss - comfortably my favourite Australian cricketer post Dizzy Gillespie - and it is his life and his career so I don't have a problem with his decision at all. But I find it odd that Cricinfo and others are saying this is perfectly timed. I find ESPNCricinfo's tweet "As always, Michael Hussey gets the timing right. Yet again." quite ridiculous. Yeah so he's not being dropped or retiring after a few years of his average falling, but he's leaving his team in a pretty concerning situation heading into one big series in India (no matter how poor India are travelling, Australia playing 4 tests in India, a place they haven't won in 8 years, is a big series) and one incredibly important series in England (Ashes, duh).

I find Ponting's timing just as good. Yeah wasn't the ATG he was from 2007, or even a 50+ batsman anymore from 2009 onwards, but he certainly wasn't "more" selfish than Hussey, or get his timing any worse.

I'm sure everyone will be happy that Hussey's legacy will not be tarnished and his average nice and high, but if a new n00b Aussie batsman are struggling in the Ashes I'm sure no one will give a ****. Would have been much better if he played, even if his averaged dropped, if he contributed more than his replacement will/would.

Again I want to stress that as Hussey is retiring because he doesn't enjoy/look forward to the touring as much any longer, it is a perfectly fine, understandable and responsible decision. But I hate the fact people are praising it as some sort of example of how gun players should leave the game.

 

[Spark]

He's probably the closest to nailed on but his place is hardly set in stone IMO.

Hmm, he has 3 tons in about 12 Tests and has three fifties on the trot. I'd say he'll be the second most secure in the side after Clarke, really (which says quite a lot about the rest, I know)

 

[Furball]

From a team POV the timing is absolutely terrible.

But if he can't be bothered anymore then fair play to him. It's his career after all.

 

[Ruckus]

Again I want to stress that as Hussey is retiring because he doesn't enjoy/look forward to the touring as much any longer, it is a perfectly fine, understandable and responsible decision. But I hate the fact people are praising it as some sort of example of how gun players should leave the game.

I think the optimal solution lies somewhere between Hussey and Ponting. Now that we can look retrospectively, Ponting's retirement was too delayed imo. Should have called it a day after the India series or maybe even well before that. Would have eased this transition period with Hussey retiring too, so one of the younger players would have been steadily gaining experience in the team by now. Like, the fact is, the reasons Ponting gave for his retirement, about not feeling he was contributing in the big moments and being inconsistent etc., could be applied to his last couple of years as a batsman. He no doubt helped us win against India, but we would have in all likelihood won that series anyway. So I'm not sure that alone (which was his only significant series for some time) was worth keeping a younger batsman like e.g. Khawaja out. They could have about 10-15 extra tests in experience by now.

 

[benchmark00]

I think the optimal solution lies somewhere between Hussey and Ponting. Now that we can look retrospectively, Ponting's retirement was too delayed imo. Should have called it a day after the India series or maybe even well before that. Would have eased this transition period with Hussey retiring too, so one of the younger players would have been steadily gaining experience in the team by now. Like, the fact is, the reasons Ponting gave for his retirement, about not feeling he was contributing in the big moments and being inconsistent etc., could be applied to his last couple of years as a batsman. He no doubt helped us win against India, but we would have in all likelihood won that series anyway. So I'm not sure that alone (which was his only significant series for some time) was worth keeping a younger batsman like e.g. Khawaja out. They could have about 10-15 extra tests in experience by now.

No that's ridiculous. Ponting thought he could still contribute strongly to the team, and why wouldn't he after he averaged over 100 in a test series. To say he should have retired straight after that (or before!!!) is crazy.

Pontings retirement was perfectly timed. He thought he couldn't contribute anymore and left at the end of a series and gave a new player the chance to have a go against a team that isn't a giant, in a home series before three very very big series.

 

[vic_orthdox]

Should also be noted for the benefit of those quoting his duff record in tests in England (I'd guess he's way over 50 in FC cricket) that his last test innings in Blighty was a ton after a series in which he could barely buy a run & there were shouts (on CW and elsewhere) for him to be dropped.

Shows moral fibre, that.

Won't find many Poms who would describe Hayden's efforts in 2005 similarly...

 

[Furball]

That's because Matthew Hayden is a dickhead.

 

[Ruckus]

No that's ridiculous. Ponting thought he could still contribute strongly to the team, and why wouldn't he after he averaged over 100 in a test series. To say he should have retired straight after that (or before!!!) is crazy.

Pontings retirement was perfectly timed. He thought he couldn't contribute anymore and left at the end of a series and gave a new player the chance to have a go against a team that isn't a giant, in a home series before three very very big series.

Na I disagree. He averaged about 35 across 2009, 2010 and 2011 and looked every part as bad as those figures suggest. Given the reasons he stated for his retirement, I reckon he must have known in the back of his head during that period that something pretty terminal was going on with his batting. Obviously from his pov, you would need some time to really convince yourself that you've lost your touch, but you don't need 3 years. I don't wanna attack his character, but from observing Ponting over his career it's been pretty clear to me he is a team man, but also holds his own batting with a lot of pride. You combine that with his somewhat stubborn nature, and some pretty devastating losses in the Ashes etc. and you have a guy with a pretty big chip on his shoulder.

 

[benchmark00]

So ahhh you do know he averaged over 100 a summer ago right?

 

[howardj]

Agree that from a team standpoint, Huss's timing wasn't ideal

But retirement has to be an individual thing, doesn't it?

If you don't want to be there, then...

 

[Ruckus]

If your looking at the bigger picture, one excellent series performance, at home, against a very poor attack doesn't counter at least 3 years of poor form for me. Very confident we would have still won that series despite his efforts anyway, maybe not 4-0, but nevertheless...

There's no doubt he was in better form in that series than previously, but I remember thinking at the time how I still didn't think he looked particularly fluent. And the very next series in the WI kind of confirmed that, cause he was back to his very worst (from memory averaged the worst out of any of the top 6/7). Makes me think in retrospect a lot of it was probably just down to the dire Indian bowling not being able to expose his problem areas like they would have been in more challenging circumstances. Explains how he could dominate shield too, and then fail miserably against SA straight after.

 

[centurymaker]

@ benchy
suppose tendulkar played lanka next and averaged 100+, according to you he should continue playing for another yr?

no way! he's dead set finished as shown by his significantly diminished batting ability this summer against ENG. (little footwork, late reactions etc..)

 

[centurymaker]

If your looking at the bigger picture, one excellent series performance, at home, against a very poor attack doesn't counter at least 3 years of poor form for me. Very confident we would have still won that series despite his efforts anyway, maybe not 4-0, but nevertheless...

There's no doubt he was in better form in that series than previously, but I remember thinking at the time how I still didn't think he looked particularly fluent. And the very next series in the WI kind of confirmed that, cause he was back to his very worst (from memory averaged the worst out of any of the top 6/7). Makes me think in retrospect a lot of it was probably just down to the dire Indian bowling not being able to expose his problem areas like they would have been in more challenging circumstances. Explains how he could dominate shield too, and then fail miserably against SA straight after.

good post.

age catches up.

 

[howardj]

You cant blame a competitive animal with a thick hide, playing on though, after he has just averaged 100 against a top ranked team

Bull**** that you should "go out on top"

Go out when you've had enough or are not good enough

You are a very long time retired

You have the rest of your life to go to the beach or the shops

 

[benchmark00]

**** sake, players should continue playing until they think they have nothing further to add to the team, or they should retire because they don't want to play any more.

If they think they can contribute but aren't then they'll be dropped.

 

[howardj]

great minds...

 

[Ruckus]

You cant blame a competitive animal with a thick hide, playing on though, after he has just averaged 100 against a top ranked team

Bull**** that you should "go out on top"

Go out when you've had enough or are not good enough

You are a very long time retired

You have the rest of your life to go to the beach or the shops

An ideal time for Ponting to go for me would have been post 2009 Ashes. Would have just lost captaincy, and it was the beginning of a new transition phase just like the one now. And it's not like it's just cherry picking the 'best' possible time in retrospect, plenty of people were calling for him to hang up his boots then anyway.

 

[Jono]

Agree that from a team standpoint, Huss's timing wasn't ideal

But retirement has to be an individual thing, doesn't it?

If you don't want to be there, then...

Yeah for sure, and hence why no one is blaming Hussey.

But the idea that this is the "ideal" retirement and a great way to go out, as opposed to Ponting, or Sachin (eventually) is stupid.

If a player wants to play until they are dropped, that is their choice.

 

[Jono]

An ideal time for Ponting to go for me would have been post 2009 Ashes. Would have just lost captaincy, and it was the beginning of a new transition phase just like the one now. And it's not like it's just cherry picking the 'best' possible time in retrospect, plenty of people were calling for him to hang up his boots then anyway.

This post makes sense - except that every time you say retire you should say "drop" or "stripped of captaincy"

 

[Ruckus]

**** sake, players should continue playing until they think they have nothing further to add to the team, or they should retire because they don't want to play any more.

If they think they can contribute but aren't then they'll be dropped.

Players like Ponting and Tendulkar just aren't dropped very easily though are they? It ends up being on their shoulders to make the decision. And that's fine if they are 100% honest with themselves about their ability to contribute, but that's usually only good in theory. Not that many champion players are going to be particularly good judges of something like that either because one of the very qualities that makes them the best - a never-say-die attitude - directly opposes that kind of reasoning.