Hussey: Mr Cricket himself
  • Hussey: Mr Cricket himself

Despite a decade of heavy run scoring as an opening batsman in both Australian and English first-class cricket, Hussey had to wait until after his 30th birthday to make his Test debut.

The left-hander, nicknamed Mr Cricket because of his insatiable appetite for the game, was finally presented with an opportunity in 2005 due to an injury to Justin Langer.

Scores of one and 29 against the West Indies did not signal what was to follow, though his success came after a move into the middle order.

A string of centuries, as well as plenty of not outs, saw Hussey's numbers right up there with Sir Don Bradman at one point, while he proved equally successful in the limited-overs arena, including the World Cup win of 2007.

His first series against England, on home soil in 2006/07, saw him as part of a side that romped to a 5-0 whitewash. Hussey helped clinch an unlikely success in the second Test in Adelaide on a final-day run chase and went on to finish the series with an impressive average 91.6.

Relatively speaking, the runs have dried up since. He struggled throughout the 2009 Ashes until the final Test, where a defiant second-innings hundred - another low score might have ended his Test career - failed to save Australia from defeat and a 2-1 series reverse.

He has added just one century - against Pakistan in Sydney - in the intervening year and has passed three figures only twice in his last 28 Tests, compared with nine times in his first 26.

Nevertheless he remains an integral part of his country's line-up in all three formats, although he recently swapped places with Michael Clarke from four to five in the Test batting order.