Mr Cricket (26 page)

Knowing that the players in the Australian team throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s were setting such a high standard did not discourage me at all. It only inspired me to work harder. I respected their skills and abilities and knew that they were in that team because they had put in more effort than anyone else to become as good as they could be. I didn't find it scary or intimidating. I found it a huge challenge that I was going to put everything into overcoming. That's why gaining a place in a team that is at the top of its field has given me such great satisfaction and it's why I don't believe in the tall-poppy syndrome.

Glenn McGrath and Andrew Symonds played vital roles in our pursuit of a third consecutive World Cup win.

There have been many people over the years who doubted I had the mettle to realise my goal of playing for Australia and performing well at the elite level. Among them was the former Test spinner Greg Matthews, who had a go at me at the Allan Border Medal in 2001.

I had known Greg from having played against him. ln my first game against NSW the Blues had a star-studded team, including Glenn McGrath, the two Waughs, Michael Bevan, Mark Taylor, Shane Lee and others. It was a great team and I knew that a good performance against them would be a feather in my cap. I got through to lunch on about 40 not out and was feeling pretty good about myself. As I was walking off the field for the break Matthews came up behind me and said, ‘Wow, you've got a great arse, mate. I wouldn't mind seeing you in the showers.' I bolted off the field, told the WA boys about it and they burst out laughing. They said that Greg was a bit of a different character and he was probably just trying to unsettle me. It worked! I got out in the first over after lunch!

In the years that followed, I saw Greg quite a lot around the traps, including the Australian Cricketers' Association, where we were both board members. I wouldn't say Greg and I were great friends, but I always said g'day to him and everything was cordial between us. Then, that night at the AB Medal, he confronted me in a quite peculiar way.

It was some time after the night's formalities had ended and everyone was just relaxing and enjoying each other's company. There were many current and former players there, a who's who of Australian cricket in one room. People were talking about the game, reminiscing about old times and discussing the future. It was a really great atmosphere. Greg must have spotted me while I was standing alone for a moment. He approached me and, quite aggressively, said: ‘You're never going to play for Australia.'

I was taken aback: ‘What are you talking about? Why not?'

‘Because you haven't got that X factor. You need that X factor to be able to play for Australia.'

Maybe I took it the wrong way, but Greg's words really ticked me off. I bit back at him straight away: ‘That's rubbish! You don't know me and you don't know me as a cricketer, either.'

I went on to tell Greg that I might seem like a friendly guy off the field but when I get into the thick of the battle I'll fight just as hard as Steve Waugh would. I got quite stroppy with him and he took a step back after my little outburst. ‘Ok then, maybe you do have the X factor!' he said. It seemed like Greg was quite surprised that I'd responded like that. He had seen me as weak and soft and too nice. He didn't think I had that hardness in me, the hardness it takes to be able to push yourself further than anyone else. I knew I did and, looking back, perhaps that was the first time I actually publicly stood up for myself to correct that perception.

I've been an opening batsman for most of my career and, in that position especially, you can't afford to be soft. You're not going to be able to score runs or play for a long time if you can't stand the heat. I know that Simon Katich has been given the ‘nice guy' tag at times, similar to me. But I also know that Simon is one of the hardest nuts going around. Perceptions are quite hard to change.

I walked away from the encounter with Greg feeling good. I had stood up to a former Test cricketer, someone with great experience and knowledge and shown him that I was strong-minded and possessed some of the qualities needed to be able to play for Australia. I knew who I was and how best I should go about my game. If that incident had taken place earlier in my career I might have walked away from it thinking that perhaps he was right, that maybe I should train harder and become more aggressive. But, no, not this time.

The difference between the ordinary and the extraordinary is that little bit extra.

Mettle, aggression, determination, strength, skill – even that X-factor Greg spoke about – have all been factors in my rise as a cricketer. But the most important ingredient remains my genuine love of the game. It's something that obviously didn't escape the attention of Andrew Flintoff and Brad Hodge, who were amazed one horribly cold day at Old Trafford how much I enjoyed playing cricket.

I was playing county cricket for Durham at the time. The weather was miserable and I was out there batting away for my life. I didn't think anything of it, really. It was just another day and the fact that a freezing wind was blowing down from the Highlands had no effect on me. In my mind it may as well have been a hot Perth morning. Freddie turned to Brad and said, ‘Wow, Huss must be the only bloke in the world who could enjoy cricket on a day like this.' I don't know which of the pair it was, but one of them said, ‘He's Mr Cricket! He just loves it so much!'

Later that season I was playing for Australia against England in a one-dayer and Flintoff was bowling. I played the ball back to him and he said, ‘How's it going, Mr Cricket?' Our team was in trouble at the time and I was concentrating very hard, so I just snapped back at him. Freddie responded cheerfully, ‘Oh, don't be like that, Mr Cricket! That's not very nice!' Andrew Symonds overheard the exchange and cracked up laughing. He told everyone about it and ‘Mr Cricket' has been my nickname ever since.

I don't mind it. I eat, sleep and breathe cricket. I feel privileged to be involved in a great team, I enjoy training and preparing. I love talking about the game and often it seems my life revolves around it.

Certainly it's a nice name to be remembered by. I may not be the most talented cricketer, but I do believe I have been very thorough over the years at finding my best game, understanding and executing the methods that will help me reach – and stay at – the highest level. I'd like to be remembered as a team man, as well. I always want what's best for the teams I play for. Scoring centuries is great, but my ultimate goal is to be regarded as a good person who served my teams well. I will feel I've been successful if, when people think of me in future years, they say: ‘You know, that Mike Hussey was a great team man and a great bloke. And, he wasn't a bad cricketer either!'

CHAPTER 10
NEW HORIZONS

R
epresenting your country is a huge honour and responsibility. It's also a balancing act. We are expected to win but
do it in a way that makes our fellow Australians proud. We must present well to our opponents and their supporters. We must also break new ground but protect the spirit, traditions and integrity of the game. Cricket-lovers, the general public, media and foreign supporters have every right to examine the way we pursue those goals. Public discussion is a cherished aspect of this great game. However, being caught among competing philosophies can expose you to enormous pressure. That's what happened shortly after Christmas 2007.

The background to the 2007–08 Indian tour of Australia ensured it would be tense. During our one day series there were heated exchanges between Andrew Symonds and Shanthakumaran Sreesanth, the infamous monkey taunts, and some highly charged incidents between Harbhajan Singh and a couple of our players that had dominated the news. Emotions were stirred in both countries and were still bubbling away when the Indians arrived in Australia barely two months later in December.

Wherever the Indian team goes, a hoard of media follows. At our press appearances ten or twenty journalists might ask questions. However, the Indian players draw one hundred journalists to theirs. Each is clambering for that unique story, meaning they will go to great lengths to get the right quote or angle. It's no surprise that the Indian players shy away from the media more than some others. But it wasn't just the Indians who were facing the music this time. Because of the dramatic lead up, this tour escalated to a different level. It had the feel of being bigger than anything I'd encountered – only the Ashes in 2006–07 could compare – and we were under more scrutiny than at any time in my career.

Only a spark was necessary to ignite the tension. It came in the Sydney Test, though it seemed more a flamethrower than a spark. The Test was littered with drama: Ricky Ponting reported Harbhajan for making offensive remarks, contentious umpiring decisions caused problems, there were questions over the honesty of some players for not ‘walking' or for claiming supposedly dubious catches and, finally, an outcry over how we celebrated one of the great Test wins. Emotions were so high that there was even a call for Ricky to stand down as captain.

Problems snowballed during the Test. However, I believe the moment things truly degenerated was when India's captain Anil Kumble declared during the post-match media conference that only one team had played in the spirit of the game. I felt that Anil was implying that our side had failed to reach the standards of good sportsmanship that his side had. When I heard that comment from Anil I was very disappointed. It was a monumental judgement to make. It placed Ricky's captaincy under a lot of pressure and questioned the integrity of our team.

I wanted to understand Anil's motivation. Was it a heat-of-the-moment reaction to his team's narrow loss? Was he just letting off steam? Was he employing a tactic to take pressure off himself and his team? Or did he genuinely think we hadn't played the game in the right spirit? Of course, I could never truly know why he said it, but my conclusion was that we had played the game in the right spirit. I had unequivocal support for Ricky as captain and an unwavering support for the conduct of our team.

I was asked to talk to media at the SCG a couple of days later. We try to spread the load of our media work to give Ricky a break, as he is most in demand. I'm seen as one of the more diplomatic players so, if we are expecting prickly questions, they will often ask me to do the job. This was one of those cases.

As with getting ready to play my best, I wanted to prepare for my media work to make sure I conveyed my points correctly. This media conference would be the public relations equivalent to batting on a green top – I had to be sharp and ready, right on top of my game. I spoke to our media liaison officer Philip Pope to discuss what questions – apart from the obvious – might be asked, and we briefly discussed my possible answers. I wanted to answer every question honestly. I didn't want to have contrived answers. I was confident I could do that because I felt strongly about my arguments and had nothing to hide. I was confident in my support for Ricky, my team and my belief that we had played in the right spirit.