Michael Hussey, a formidable middle order batsman of Australia was buoyant with the triple ton of Michael Clarke at Sydney and felt honoured to be associated with him at the crease.
Clarke hammered unbeaten 329 runs against India in the second Test at Sydney Cricket ground on December 5, 2012, and became the highest scorer at that venue. He registered his name in the history books being the only fourth Australian to thrash triple century in Test cricket and the third national Captain to achieve the honours after Sir Donald Bradman and Mark Taylor.
Matthew Hayden is on the top of the list by dispatching 380 runs against Zimbabwe at Perth in October, 2003. Sir DonaldBradman smashed 334 runs against their arch rivals England in July, 1930, at Headingly, Leeds. Mark Taylor was the third batsman to smash unbeaten 334 runs against Pakistan in October, 1998, at Peshawar.
Hussey played a vital innings of unbeaten 150 runs while becoming the second fiddle for Clarke who stole the lime lights. The left hand batsman was under strong criticism lately and even his place in the Test team was in jeopardy when he started to ring the bells at the right time. He played an important role in the first Test against India and contributed a match winning knock of 89 runs in the second innings. The Kangaroos were bowled out at 240 runs but went on to win the match by 122 runs with the assistance of their express fast bowling.
The 36-year-old came to the crease at Sydney once Ricky Ponting and Clarke had laid down solid foundation after India got rid of their top three batsmen for just 37 runs. Ponting came back to the form by punching 134 runs and the fourth wicket was lost at 325 runs.
Hussey shared a majestic unbroken partnership of 334 runs for the fifth wicket and his bat showered unbeaten 150 runs while Clarke stood like a rock at the other end by gigantic 329 runs when the declaration was announced. The left hander had enormous support of his Captain, the selectors and the coach which brought his confidence back besides lot of criticism all around him. He complimented them by saying, “I guess the opinions that matter the most to me are the captain, the coach and the selectors. They’ve always been very supportive of me. That’s given me a lot of confidence to prepare as well as I can. I’ve been feeling good but it’s just the way the game goes sometimes.”
The brave declaration from Clarke is being hailed from all corners as he was in sight of achieving personal landmarks which were set aside by the Captain. He was just five runs away from the highest scored of Sir Bradman and Taylor, 51 runs from Haden. The 30-year-old could have achieved the honours of highest score of unbeaten 400 runs in Test cricket by the elegant Brian Lara.
Hussey was an excited partner of Clarke as the duo has nearly taken their team to the consecutive victory against India. He complimented the great innings of Clarke as,”I don’t really mind. I said to Pup out in the middle I’m honoured and privileged to be a part of that. It was a fantastic innings and one that I’ll remember for a long time … and one that got our team into a very strong position in the Test match. That’s what I’ll remember about it,”
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