Michael Hussey: Mr Cricket, Mr. Comeback!

Michael Hussey credits his English county cricket coach, Bob Carter, with always having faith in him.

But in 2000, when he'd hit rock bottom, the advice that turned him around came from outside cricket and a lot closer to home.

"The most influential person (in my career) would probably be my wife Amy," Hussey reveals.

"I was really at my wits end about what to do … whether even to continue playing the game because it was frustrating at times and I put a lot of pressure on myself."

She just sort of said to me, 'You're not even enjoying the game of cricket'.

"That was a big slap in the face really — just get back to enjoying the game and playing the game because you love it. And as soon as soon I started doing that, that's when I started playing more consistently and, funny enough, that's when an opportunity came up to play for Australia." says Hussey.

On a bleak, freezing cold morning at Old Trafford, a few years ago, no one wanted to play cricket … except one man: Michael Hussey.

"Look at this guy," Andrew Symonds exclaimed at the time, "he must be Mr Cricket". And so was born one of the great nicknames of world sport.

Hussey says he would rather not be called "Mr Cricket", but it's a Catch 22 situation.

"It doesn't sit all that comfortably with me, but Andrew Symonds was determined to carry on with it and it's one of those things the more you complain about it …" he chuckles.

"I've had many ups and downs and it's been a bit of a long process to get into the Australian team." recalls Hussey.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Instead of providing an outline of his achievements, Mr Cricket is a brutally honest account of Hussey's struggle to the top, and his ability to overcome his internal fears and feelings of

inadequacy.

" I wanted to make the point, that everyone has fears, You've got to learn to deal with those and it's okay to have the fears." - Hussey

The West Indies fast bowler, Fidel Edwards, was at the top of his mark. Very inconveniently, this was the moment when my brain decided to start playing a slideshow of flashbacks. I started thinking about the overwhelming disappointment of being dropped from the WA team … can you imagine these thoughts going through your head as a West Indies fast bowler comes tearing in to bowl at you in front of millions of people watching on television?

I was getting deeply emotional and started to choke up. My eyes became a little teary and I thought, ‘For goodness sake, you can't start crying before your first ball in Test cricket!

Hussey admits to some trepidation about making his inner most thoughts public, particularly as he is a current player and some of what he has written might be used by his opponents.

"I try and keep my cards pretty close to my chest and don't want to let too much out there, but when I decided I wanted to do it, I wanted to really come clean and really put myself right out there; It's quite a liberating feeling really after you sort of do it (and) I feel great about that." he says.

Hussey was down at the beach with his family when he got a call from the chairman of selectors asking could he be on a plane to Brisbane in hour. This was his big break, Justin Langer was battling an injury and he was next in line. However, when he got to the Gabba, he saw "JL" batting well and showing no signs of pain.

Much to my surprise he got through training without any apparent problem at all. In fact he batted beautifully in the nets, as well as ever, and my heart sank. Again I felt those terrible thoughts of being so close yet so far.

"That was a funny sort of feeling, I was hoping he wasn't going to play," he says.

"That's exactly how I felt at the time … I think they're probably just natural feelings. I'm sure a lot of people would feel exactly the same, I don't feel bad for feeling that." Hussey signs off.

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