Michael Hussey

Michael Hussey became an unlikely overnight sensation in his thirties after what felt like a lifetime waiting for his break, toiling in the Sheffield Shield and the County Championship. He made his chance count, and how: after two years in the Test side, his average was 86, and it took 29 ODIs for his average to drop below 100. He became the fastest player to 1000 Test runs, doing it in 164 days.

There were three hundreds in his first five Tests, in 2005 against West Indies and South Africa. Early the following year, he revelled in a streak that produced seven fifties and four hundreds in an 11-Test stretch. That included an unbeaten 74 and a second-innings hundred in the Perth opener of the 2006-07 Ashes in which Australia rode roughshod over England.

The inevitable recession, when it came in 2008-09, forced Hussey to battle for runs and his spot in the Australia sides, but it didn't change his demeanour or his approach to the game.

Though he came up the ranks as a specialist opener, he spent most of his time in the middle order with Australia and did it with enthusiasm always. He was a reliable catcher at gully, liberal with encouragement, and scrupulous at practice. These attributes, and his overall attitude, earned him the nickname Mr Cricket.

Hussey came back into the bright lights with 195 against England in Brisbane in the 2010 home Ashes, and followed it up with two fifties in Adelaide and a fifty and a hundred in the win in Perth. He then helmed Australia's series victory in Sri Lanka, topping the tables with 463 runs in his five innings.

As a batter he was old-fashioned, preferring to work and caress the ball, especially through cover with a crisp drive. He would occasionally break free - when batting with the No. 11 or in the final stages of a limited-overs innings - and in that mood, he could pull ferociously, but mostly he travelled at a safe speed.

That side of his game was nowhere better exemplified than in his unbeaten 60 in the semi-final of the 2010 T20 World Cup, where he plucked victory from the jaws of defeat against Pakistan.

Hussey's entry may have been a quiet one, but his retirement early in 2013, was something of a surprise, coming as it did in the wake of three hundreds in his last six Tests.

He continued to play T20 as a freelancer, for Perth Scorchers in the Big Bash League from 2011 to 2013, before moving to Sydney Thunder, with whom he won the title in 2016. In the IPL, he had a key role in Chennai Super Kings achieving the IPL and Champions League double in 2010, followed by another IPL title in 2011. After his playing days at the franchise were done, he moved into a back-room role there.