Hussey's listmania

Mr Cricket: Driven to Succeed by Michael Hussey with David Sygall
(Hardie Grant Books, 184pp) A$29.95

Nobody could accuse Michael Hussey of being listless. His work ethic is beyond reproach. Hussey's new autobiography is far from listless as well - if there was such a word, the book could be described as listfull.

Hussey is not a "turn up and have a hit" type of cricketer. He doesn't like leaving anything to chance and consequently has a written plan for every occasion, and they're peppered through the 184 pages written by him and David Sygall. Things I can improve on, one-day batting plan, sleep plan, how to cope with humidity - the list of lists could go on and on. The only thing missing is an inventory of the contents of his refrigerator, although he comes close by outlining what he eats leading up to matches.

Some of his team-mates might see it as bordering on obsessive and unnecessarily complicating this cricket business - it's hard to imagine Andrew Symonds clinically logging his strategies - but the approach has worked wonders for Hussey. It's hardly surprising that he studied to be a secondary teacher, and it is also no great revelation that he was a favourite of the former coach John Buchanan, who calls Hussey the model template for any aspiring cricketer.

Hussey's overwhelming desire to keep improving is the major theme in Mr Cricket: Driven to Succeed, and he comes across as a man who is confident in his own ability but experiences moments of serious self-doubt. That is where his lists come in. If he feels he is struggling with any particular facet of his game, he will set himself a homework task: make notes on how to improve.

If he can't work it out, he'll ask somebody he respects. Well before he broke into the Australia team, Hussey was rattled by Queensland's fearsome fast-bowling line-up and decided he didn't have the mental toughness he needed to take the next step. So after being dismissed at the Gabba, he went back to the change rooms, sat down and wrote to Steve Waugh, the then Australia captain, to ask his advice on how to handle mental pressure.

Scattered through the book are passages written by people who have influenced Hussey's career. Waugh reflects on what it said about Hussey that he wrote that letter. Buchanan explains how, when he asked every player what they would work on during a break of a couple of months, Hussey responded with a comprehensive written analysis of his goals and how he wanted to achieve them.

The chapter titles - "Mental Fatigue", "Working with Different Personalities", "Goalsetting", for example - give a strong hint that Hussey's book is not the standard cricketer's autobiography. It is an advice document for young players. But he finds space for a couple of humorous recollections, like when as a 19-year-old he was 12th man for Western Australia and suffered an alarming initiation when the senior state players convinced him one of his duties was to administer painkilling suppositories to Tom Moody.

Less frightening for Hussey but no less disturbing a mental image for readers was when he, preparing to bat for the first time in Tests, was called over in the Gabba dressing rooms by Shane Warne. Standing in the bathroom in his underpants, relieving himself while enjoying a cigarette, Warne offered Hussey a piece of advice that perhaps didn't need verbalising, given the mode of delivery: "Be yourself".

For Hussey, that means never settling for the easy road. His batting coach, Ian Kevan, recalls how Hussey, following an Australia A tour, decided he needed six hours of practice a day. So, one Saturday when his club side had the bye, Hussey hauled Kevan down to the indoor nets for six hours, with time out for lunch and tea. During one of their breaks Kevan fell asleep from exhaustion. Hussey went for a run. No wonder they call him Mr Cricket.