Mike Hussey revises Test average hopes

The man who averaged an amazing 86.18 after 18 Test matches has slumped to 55.29 after 37 tests. Now, 55.29 is not exactly a figure you'd associate with a "slump" but for Michael Hussey, this really is a slump. When he gets hit, he gets hit hard.

An exclusively short interview with Amy S:
Mike: I used to secretly think that I could be as good as the Don. I mean, everyone was calling me Mr. Cricket and whatnot. Do you know who gave me that nickname? Do you?
Amy: Andrew Flintoff?
Mike: Yeah. So tell me, is an average of 100 impossible when you've been branded Mr. Cricket by the only decent English* cricketer?It's not as though my hopes were unrealistic.
Amy: Do you still feel the same way?
*LONG PAUSE*
Mike: I'm perfectly happy to average 50+.

* Note: English refers to genuine born and bred in England cricketers, although we're willing to be flexible about birthplace. The point is, no Safricans, okay?

Sadly, the 33 year old appears to be outshined by his younger brother David (31). Take the first T20 for comparison: David hits 88 off 44 balls and takes 2 wickets. Mike, meanwhile, gets run out for a duck, and no, Sybrand wasn't throwing the ball.
In the second T20, Mike was "rested". David played for 27 runs.

Getting out of the sibling comparisons, Michael Hussey averaged 19.72 runs against South Africa. That is a poor result, and even those runs weren't taken freely. It was almost painful to watch him struggle through matches.

David, the brother who got the short end of the genes stick, also commented on his brother's recent performances:

“It’s very disappointing for Mike. He’s not going through the easiest time with the bat.”

No shit. We hadn't noticed.

So, rested for the last T20, and without a decent overall performance this summer. Mike Hussey's still in all the squads, but the selectors can only go so far/wait so long/have so much faith before they consider the dreaded prospect of being dropped. It's too bad, really, because Mike's a top bloke. Expect the next post to be about that.