I know it's not my favourite competition - give me the County Championship any day, even with Somerset's dreadful run! - but the IPL is worth following just to see how the world's best cricketers fare against each other in the biff-bang game. Chris Gayle is the king of Twenty20 but even his sixes couldn't drag RCB into the top four. Not only that, but the Chennai Super Kings feature batsmen who have outperformed the West Indian opener.
Surely CSK should have the firepower in depth to win the final this weekend, whoever the opposition. Mike Hussey has played the same number of games as Gayle, yet has accumulated 24 more runs, featuring six half-centuries in the 16 innings. His 58-ball 86 not out against the Indians was superb and it took an even more ferocious performance by team-mate Suresh Raina to steal the headlines, though not the Man of the Match award.
Of the top players, Gayle doesn't even boast the best strike rate. That belongs to another CSK stalwart, their irrepressible skipper MS Dhoni. He may have endured considerable criticism since India slipped off their perch as number one Test nation but in the short formats, MS is as good as anyone. A strike rate of more than 167, with just the final to come, is phenomenal. Needless to say, he has also made more dismissals behind the stumps (15) than anyone else in this year's competition.
With the ball, CSK also field the highest wicket-taker, Darren Bravo. His 28 scalps often seem to come at the death, with a soaring economy rate to match, but his contribution to the Chennai cause cannot be overlooked. Lasith Malinga has been eclipsed at last! He wasn't even the best fast bowler in Mumbai's side; that is Mitch Johnson. Mean bowling is usually the preserve of the spinners such as Harbjajan Singh, Mishra and the excellent Sunil Narine, but Dale Steyn's 19 wickets at under a run a ball have taken the Sunrisers to touching distance of the final. James Faulkner has snared an impressive 27 IPL victims this year, making him the star of the Royals' march to the final eliminator. I hadn't realised what a fine all-round record he has in first-class cricket, too, so could a Test call-up be far away?
So will Chennai Super Kings claim their third title in four years? Even if they don't, their ace performers have lit up the tournament. Mike Hussey may have retired from Test cricket but his class in all cricket remains undimmed. The lights may have gone out on Tendulkar and Ponting this Spring but Mr Cricket, about to reach his 38th birthday, shines as brightly as ever.
Showing posts with label Mike Hussey. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mike Hussey. Show all posts
Thursday, 23 May 2013
Tuesday, 8 January 2013
Mr Cricket and Mr Thickhead
I used to like Shane Warne. The cheeky chubster with the crooked smile and the sprig of blonde hair waving above the forehead before he whirled his ample arm and usually bamboozled the world's best batsmen with prodigious leg-breaks. He deserves legendary status just for making Mike Gatting look such a plonker twenty years ago. I could even forgive him his occasional discretions off the pitch. He is simply the most exciting slow bowler I have ever seen. Murali took more wickets, had a better average and had the crazier eyes, but Warney almost single-handedly reinvented the art of leg spin and changed cricket as we know it.
It is therefore very sad to see the slimline Mr W blowing his top during the Melbourne derby BBL clash on Sunday. Marlon Samuels was hardly blameless for his manhandling of David Hussey earlier in the match. Nevertheless, Warne's constant swearing (enhanced by his being 'mic'd up' for TV) and childish lobbing of the ball at Samuels' body made him look ridiculous. I know that things can get heated in the middle but this was just pathetic. Given Warne's role model status, a one-game ban looks woefully inadequate. Perhaps he was given a bonus from Fox Sports for livening up their BBL coverage, but at least it should kill off any lingering speculation about the 43 year-old being recalled to the national side!
Contrast Warne's actions with the dignified retirement of Mike Hussey. Just five years younger, the batsman gave the world only a few days' notice of his intention to quit Test cricket after the third Sri Lanka match, and he was thre at the end on 27, even if he couldn't be the one to strike the winning run. The affection his team-mates had for him was obvious, as was the respect held by the opposition. Seeing genuine sportsmanship on the field of play always tugs at my emotions. Just as the Proteas' guard of honour for Ricky Ponting's last innings sent a proud shiver down my spine, so did the standing ovation for Mr Cricket at the SCG.
Such was the competition for batting places in the early 90s and early 2000s, Hussey didn't get a chance in the Aussie Test side until he had reached 30. However, his batting average was already past 50, with some prolific seasons in England and Western Australia behind him. His debut at Brisbane against the Windies in November 2005 saw him opening with Matthew Hayden, scoring 1 and 29. In his first ODI almost two years previously, he batted at seven, typically steering his side home against India.
He may have played only 79 Tests and 185 ODIs but he accumulated around 12,000 runs for Australia, averaging 52 in the five-dayers and an incredible 48 in 50-over fixtures. One of the true batting all-rounders, he was just at home in any format, and it seems such a shame that the Board tended to pick him for Tests and brother David for ODIs. They are (were?) both exceptional strokemakers, with the ability to 'finish', anchor or raise the strike rate, as I blogged a few years ago. Nevertheless, Michael has won the most plaudits for his batsmanship, professionalism and reluctance to play the celebrity fame game. Unlike Warne. And so it is Hussey who should be remembered this week, not his former team-mate.
It is therefore very sad to see the slimline Mr W blowing his top during the Melbourne derby BBL clash on Sunday. Marlon Samuels was hardly blameless for his manhandling of David Hussey earlier in the match. Nevertheless, Warne's constant swearing (enhanced by his being 'mic'd up' for TV) and childish lobbing of the ball at Samuels' body made him look ridiculous. I know that things can get heated in the middle but this was just pathetic. Given Warne's role model status, a one-game ban looks woefully inadequate. Perhaps he was given a bonus from Fox Sports for livening up their BBL coverage, but at least it should kill off any lingering speculation about the 43 year-old being recalled to the national side!
Contrast Warne's actions with the dignified retirement of Mike Hussey. Just five years younger, the batsman gave the world only a few days' notice of his intention to quit Test cricket after the third Sri Lanka match, and he was thre at the end on 27, even if he couldn't be the one to strike the winning run. The affection his team-mates had for him was obvious, as was the respect held by the opposition. Seeing genuine sportsmanship on the field of play always tugs at my emotions. Just as the Proteas' guard of honour for Ricky Ponting's last innings sent a proud shiver down my spine, so did the standing ovation for Mr Cricket at the SCG.
Such was the competition for batting places in the early 90s and early 2000s, Hussey didn't get a chance in the Aussie Test side until he had reached 30. However, his batting average was already past 50, with some prolific seasons in England and Western Australia behind him. His debut at Brisbane against the Windies in November 2005 saw him opening with Matthew Hayden, scoring 1 and 29. In his first ODI almost two years previously, he batted at seven, typically steering his side home against India.
He may have played only 79 Tests and 185 ODIs but he accumulated around 12,000 runs for Australia, averaging 52 in the five-dayers and an incredible 48 in 50-over fixtures. One of the true batting all-rounders, he was just at home in any format, and it seems such a shame that the Board tended to pick him for Tests and brother David for ODIs. They are (were?) both exceptional strokemakers, with the ability to 'finish', anchor or raise the strike rate, as I blogged a few years ago. Nevertheless, Michael has won the most plaudits for his batsmanship, professionalism and reluctance to play the celebrity fame game. Unlike Warne. And so it is Hussey who should be remembered this week, not his former team-mate.
Monday, 12 November 2012
Clarke and Cowan take Control
Before the start of Day Four at the Gabba, there was still a chance that South Africa could engineer a victory. All they had to do was make early inroads by sending Cowan, Clarke and Hussey back to the pavilion. One out of three all day was not what the doctor ordered!
The much-vaunted Saffer attack reduced the Aussies to 40-3, including a duck for Ricky Ponting, but there was no certainty that Ed Cowan, without a Test hundred to his name, and Michael Clarke, could build on yesterday afternoon's partnership. Even with Steyn, Morkel and Philander blazing in, the opener could be dismissed only by a run-out for backing up too far, on 136. This was also Cowan's first 50 in first-class cricket since August, so he really needed such an innings.
His captain, on the other hand, has made a habit of making big hundreds in 2012, so Clarke's unbeaten 218 should not be too much of a shock. However, it was only the fifth to be scored in a Brisbane Test and took his aggregate for the calendar year to 1000. With Hashim Amla and Jacques Kallis looking on, sometimes bowling, their own centuries were soon eclipsed and, when Mike Hussey replaced Cowan, the runfest merely stepped up a gear and Clarke could soon claim his second double-century stand of the innings. Had the second day not been completely washed out, this match could yet have yielded an exciting finish. However, with a draw now almost a formality, these two could conceivably set more records. Could Clarke make it a Bradman-esque statistic of two triples in 2012?
Even if both men at the crease fail in the first over, it will nevertheless be a moral victory for the home team and a reminder for Graeme Smith et al that they have a real battle on here. When the Aussies have their tails up, even without a proven Test Eleven, they can be a formidable opposition on home territory.
The much-vaunted Saffer attack reduced the Aussies to 40-3, including a duck for Ricky Ponting, but there was no certainty that Ed Cowan, without a Test hundred to his name, and Michael Clarke, could build on yesterday afternoon's partnership. Even with Steyn, Morkel and Philander blazing in, the opener could be dismissed only by a run-out for backing up too far, on 136. This was also Cowan's first 50 in first-class cricket since August, so he really needed such an innings.
His captain, on the other hand, has made a habit of making big hundreds in 2012, so Clarke's unbeaten 218 should not be too much of a shock. However, it was only the fifth to be scored in a Brisbane Test and took his aggregate for the calendar year to 1000. With Hashim Amla and Jacques Kallis looking on, sometimes bowling, their own centuries were soon eclipsed and, when Mike Hussey replaced Cowan, the runfest merely stepped up a gear and Clarke could soon claim his second double-century stand of the innings. Had the second day not been completely washed out, this match could yet have yielded an exciting finish. However, with a draw now almost a formality, these two could conceivably set more records. Could Clarke make it a Bradman-esque statistic of two triples in 2012?
Even if both men at the crease fail in the first over, it will nevertheless be a moral victory for the home team and a reminder for Graeme Smith et al that they have a real battle on here. When the Aussies have their tails up, even without a proven Test Eleven, they can be a formidable opposition on home territory.
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