Image Credit- Cricket Australia
In order to avoid selecting a makeshift opener to
replace David Warner, former Australia batsman Michael Hussey has advised the
selectors that a specialist opener who has dominated Sheffield Shield cricket
should be rewarded. Hussey, though, did not specify a candidate.
Hussey was inducted into the Australian Cricket Hall
of Fame alongside former Australia women’s captain Lyn Larsen, and he was
speaking ahead of the Boxing Day Test at the MCG.
After his first two Test matches, the left-hander was
only able to open in one innings. After Langer returned, he was moved down the
order and played middle-order for the remaining 79 Test matches, where he
amassed 6235 runs at a strike rate of 51.52, with 18 of his 19 Test hundreds
occurring at Nos. 4-6.
Hussey was certain that Australia’s selectors should
choose a specialist opener for the first Test against West Indies in January
after Warner retires at the conclusion of the Pakistan series, even though he
was one of Australia’s most versatile all-format performers in the three-format
era.
“Opening is one of the toughest jobs in the
game,” Hussey said. “So for me personally, if I was selecting, I’d be
going for a traditional, proper opener. Someone who has done it for a long
period of time. Because if you haven’t done it much in your first-class career,
it’s going to be very difficult to come up the order.
“I’m not saying you can’t do it, and maybe
someone could evolve into doing that role. But I think it would be difficult
for a player like Mitch Marsh or someone – I know there’s been talk about him
going up the order – I think he’s probably more suited, much like Travis Head,
to be in the middle-order.
“I think that’d be the best for the balance of
the Australian team.”