With the Australian think-tank pondering all kinds of possibilities to tackle their spin woes in Asia, Michael Hussey has dismissed outright the radical theory of turning to conditions specific personnel. In a candid chat with The Unplayable Podcast, the 41-year old stuck to the conventional approach of equipping the best available players to deal with different pitches across the globe.
When asked about a ‘horses for courses’ approach, Hussey declared, “I don't really buy in to that, to be honest. As selectors, they pick the best six batsmen in the country to go out there and play in any conditions.”
He added, “I remember as player, if you were considered as one of the best six batsmen in Australia you wanted to be challenged in all the different conditions around the world. You wanted to go to England and first of all learn how to play in their conditions and then thrive. You wanted to go to India and learn and then thrive.“
Even though they bowled out Sri Lanka on the opening day in Pallekele, Australia’s batsmen failed to capitalize and succumbed to the home team’s variety of spinners. Things turned to worse with a heavy 229-run loss in Galle.
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Considered to be a versatile batsman, Hussey played 79 Tests and scored 6235 runs at an average of 51.52 with four of his 19 tons coming in Asia. The left-hander wanted the modern-day Aussies to adapt to the challenging subcontinental tracks.
Hussey quipped, “That's part and parcel of being an international batsman, you've got to go and play in different conditions and you've got to figure it out yourself and try to figure out how to have success. I'd be worried if we were picking the 10th or 15th best batsman in the country just because he's perceived to be a good player of spin, so we're going to get him into the Test team.”
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Faced with an unassailable 0-2 deficit, Australia enter into Colombo in a bid to salvage some pride and give themselves the best chance to hold on to their number one Test ranking.
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