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Should Michael Hussey be rated as one of the ATG??

karan316

State Vice-Captain
Don't care what the stats say but the guy was one of the most dependable and versatile cricketer ever.. Was consistent in all 3 formats, had the ability to absorb pressure.. someone whom you would expect to play well in any given situation. I think he is quite underrated...
 
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GIMH

Norwood's on Fire
Only scored an away Ashes ton when his head was being called for. A regular Matt Hayden/Shane Watson.
 

bagapath

International Captain
why do you want to ignore his stats?

19 centuries and an average of 51 in tests, 48 average at 87 SR in ODIs are automatic qualifiers for ATG status.

99.94 percent of the world population would do anything to have a career as good as Hussey's. If he were a film actor he would be Brad Pitt; he is that good.

But, he is no Al Pacino.

I always believe those great batsmen who don't score double centuries always miss out on ATG status while other champs with similar stats are rated higher.

For example, Crowe, Gower and Vishy are always rated ahead of Richardson, Anwar, Vengsarkar, Haynes and M. Waugh - all of whom never reached the 200 mark.
Even if you go one league higher, Sutcliffe - who also never scored a double - always gets ranked below Hutton, Hobbs and Gavaskar.
Similarly, lack of one definitive big innings from Hussey could be a reason for him not being rated on par with other aussie batters of similar class (border, s.waugh,hayden, ponting). The biggies do matter when it comes to photo finishes.

The other issue not in his favor could be the Miandad syndrome; his home performances are many folds better than his away shows. 14 centuries versus 5; 61 avg vs 42.
Overseas knocks kind of build your legend; ask Steve Waugh, Allan Border and Sachin Tendulkar about it. In being seen as a home track bully (considering his bad shows in Eng, India and SA) Hussey loses a bit of sheen in the Legend test.

Assuming we are going to ignore Miller for a minute and take 4 middle order bats for Aussie teams, this is what we may end up with

Team 1

Bradman
G. Chappell
Ponting
Border

Team 2

Hill
Harvey
M. Clarke
S.Waugh

Team 3

I.Chappell
Walters
McCartney
Hussey

He is a great batsman for sure. But an ATG? May be. May be not. It is touch and go.
 
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Red

The normal awards that everyone else has
Yep. He is.

I was always disappointed Australia didn't use him to open the batting more in tests. Think he would've made some bigger scores if he had.
 

Furball

Evil Scotsman
Hussey was an excellent batsman and one of the best of his era.

An all time great? Not for me, his away record in Test cricket places him a tier below the ATGs for me.

If we're considering all formats, then he might very well be, IMO he's the perfect limited overs batsman.
 

Chubb

International Regular
Always thought he would have a rep similar to Eddie Paynter: very good batsman, excellent stats, but never talked of as a great.
 

Burgey

Request Your Custom Title Now!
His exciting move to the Sydney Thunder will probably secure his place as an ATG
 

Riggins

International Captain
Only scored an away Ashes ton when his head was being called for. A regular Matt Hayden/Shane Watson.
hussey did only play one away series. it wasn't good but he would have done better this year if he'd played on, or if he'd gotten a gig in 05 rather than just after, i think.
 

karan316

State Vice-Captain
I think people should also consider the fact that he played majority of his international matches when he was at the wrong side of 30.... Its one of the least productive times for a batsmen.
 

Prince EWS

Global Moderator
I think people should also consider the fact that he played majority of his international matches when he was at the wrong side of 30.... Its one of the least productive times for a batsmen.
It's a myth that he was dominating the Sheffield Shield before then though. Just as a I said in the tour thread about the Harris/Lee comparison, we shouldn't mark Hussey up for not being good enough to make the team when he was younger. Hussey was a much better younger cricketer than Harris was but I still think the evidence strongly suggests that if he'd been playing Tests from the time he turned 24 instead of 30 he'd have a much worse Test average.

After the 2003-04 season, Hussey was 29 years old, had been playing in the Sheffield Shield for ten seasons and averaged 39.26. In his previous four seasons he'd only managed to average over 40 once and that was the 2003-04 season itself in which he averaged 41.81. The following season he did well and got a Test call-up as a result.

Hussey was a late bloomer. He essentially protected his Test average by being poor enough to not be selected when he wasn't very good. This does not make him a better batsman than someone who debuted at 20 and averaged 38 for his first six years and ultimately lowered his Test average by playing through that period; it's a positive that a young cricketer can be Test standard. His average is flattering when comparing him to most all time greats because more of his Test career was dominated by his peak than them. At the end of the day he had a seven year Test career not because he was robbed of a chance to play in his peak but because that's when he was a world class batsman, he peaked late and even that relatively short period had a trough right through the middle of it.
 

slowfinger

International Debutant
He was being compared to the Don in his first 2 years of international cricket @ an avg of 70 but incapability to cash in away from home sealed him as a prominent batsman, a brilliant batsman, but not quite a great, a pioneer.
 

Jono

Virat Kohli (c)
I think people should also consider the fact that he played majority of his international matches when he was at the wrong side of 30.... Its one of the least productive times for a batsmen.
This is like literally the opposite of what is the truth. It is the most productive.
 

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