The return of Mr. Cricket dominates the back pages
The momentum in the first Test at Brisbane swung back and forth between England and Australia in enthralling fashion on day two, and Michael Hussey - whose battling 81 helped Australia out of difficuly - featured heavily in the media dissection of
Liam Brickhill
25-Feb-2013
The momentum in the first Test at Brisbane swung back and forth between England and Australia in enthralling fashion on day two, and Michael Hussey - whose battling 81 helped Australia out of difficuly - featured heavily in the media dissection of the second day. In the Guardian, Vic Marks suggested Hussey was clearly the victor in his first tussle of the series with Graeme Swann - who was his team-mate at Northamptonshire until some six years ago.
England's off-spinner no longer looked serene. We could sense that Swann, who has glided effortlessly through the last year, was now paddling furiously and only just beneath the surface. Hussey's aggression was serving a dual purpose. At a stroke he was resuscitating his own career, but he was also threatening the received wisdom. England's joker was being well and truly trumped.
Peter Roebuck suggested in the Sydney Morning Herald Hussey's success had come from a change in his mindset, remarking upon the difference between his approach and Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke's tentative prodding.
At first it might seem odd to include Mike Hussey among those with little to lose. After all he has been under severe scrutiny for a year. Eventually, though, the time comes to stop sandbagging. Clearly, Hussey had reached that conclusion. Perhaps his last-gasp hundred for Western Australia at the MCG was the turning point. A duck in the first dig proved that crabbing was not working.
Similarly, Jamie Pandaram argued in the Age that Hussey's knock proved the difference between to very evenly-matched sides.
ONE week ago Michael Hussey was one of about 20 people in the country who believed he should be in the Test side. Yesterday he convinced the other 22 million with one of his most sparkling innings in years. Hussey single-handedly pulled Australia back from the brink with an unbeaten 81 before day two was abandoned early due to bad light.
In the Daily Telegraph, Simon Briggs suggested that while the second day's play had made for absorbing viewing, it was not so absorbing that there wasn’t time for that regular hobby of all frustrated England fans - poking fun at one-eyed Australian commentators.
Also on Sky, Shane Warne has spent the last couple of days reminding England fans not to get too cocky about the assumed demise of Australian cricket. Though at least his eight years at Hampshire have given Warne an international perspective that is entirely lacking in some of his countrymen. Healy, by contrast, sounds as if he has been buried in a cellar for the decade since he retired.
Liam Brickhill is a freelance journalist based in Cape Town