Mr Cricket meets Mr Chanderpaul

There will be two Mr Crickets at the Gabba this week and both left-handers will shuffle in the middle order. If Shivnarine Chanderpaul's friends had been more alert it could have been him with the game's most comprehensive nickname, but he became Shiv and Michael Hussey got the never-to-be lost label.

It's one Hussey has tried to under-play but the great sportspeople who aren't natural geniuses require obsession to drive them past the above-average. Chanderpaul, a tiny labourer who has proved himself over 121 Tests and 15 years, has willed himself towards the top shelf of batting and from Thursday Hussey will attempt to re-establish himself as a must-have in Australia's list.

"He's amazing really, he's been phenomenal, particularly in the last few years," Hussey said of Chanderpaul, who held out the Australians for 442 runs at 147.33 in the Test series last year. "He's had his ups and downs over the years as well. I remember when he first came on to the scene he was unbelievable, then he had a bit of a down patch, but in the last couple of years he has been unbelievable really."

Hussey was the same, with a magical start followed by a trough that lasted until the final innings of the Ashes when he finished the lost series with 121. In an effort to avoid thinking about anything other than saving the game, Hussey turned his back on Ricky Ponting while he was waiting for the third umpire's decision. Not even running out the captain would alter Hussey's focus.

It is this intensity that made him an outstanding batsman in those never-ending county and Sheffield Shield seasons and convinced the selectors that after 11 first-class years he was ready to be a Test player. In a couple of seasons he was the closest Australia had to Bradman; at the moment he is the nearest to the exit.

Yet when it comes to cricket obsession, Chanderpaul makes Hussey's attitude seem carefree. When the West Indies step off the bus at the team hotel Chanderpaul doesn't say "see you later", but "see you tomorrow". He's off for room service, to watch some cricket videos and analyse his game some more. Don't expect to run into him at the hotel bar unless it's the only place showing a cricket game. And he is surely the only person who lives in Florida and owns a bowling machine.

An Australian who has throw-downs on the outfield is usually attempting to drive so hard that the fence pickets snap or the advertising signs dint. At Allan Border Field last week Chanderpaul felt like defending, so he just let the ball run into his dabbed bat. There was no follow-through or flair. It was more like the way a father first teaches his children to stop the ball than the drill of an international batsman. The activity was for a player who just wanted to hold a piece of wood and touch something red.

At 35, Chanderpaul is a year older than Hussey, who is starting to tone down his training so he can remain a fixture in all forms of the game. During the one-day series in India, where he scored 313 runs in six games, he barely practised to stay fresh. Hussey was never a big video watcher in his room like Chanderpaul, but he was always a hard trainer. Now he is more worried about "feeling comfortable with my game and getting my mind right".

This is what Hussey has been thinking about to improve his batting. "I have analysed my dismissals over the past year in Test cricket and there have been a few that have been a bit of bad luck and things just not going right. But the ones that I feel I have been in control in, that I stuffed up really badly, are the ones where I have been a little bit too tentative. I've been trying through the last three one-day series to come out a bit more confident. And if you're going to get out cheaply at least it's on my terms, being more confident rather than being tentative or negative."

That's not the sort of detailed analysis Michael Clarke or Brad Haddin or Mitchell Johnson or Peter Siddle would offer. The alterations worked in the one-day arena but Hussey has to transform that into his Test play so he can hold his spot. Four summers ago he was the new face in Australia's side, a 30-year-old debutant facing West Indies at the Gabba. He was so nervous that he tried an unsuccessful hook shot on 1.

"It was a great experience but a horrible emotion," he said of his first innings. Three months later he had three centuries and was a fixture in the middle order.

"It's nice to have done the full circle," he said. "But I certainly believe in myself that I am still good enough to be at this level, can perform consistently at the highest level, and have the burning desire to go further and further." Chanderpaul knows that feeling too.