Hussey's best batting comrades

It seems only yesterday that Mike Hussey was masterminding run chases, jumping on anything short and scoring hundred after hundred for any team he strapped the pads on for.

But today, and this may shock you, the 79-Test veteran and captain of the Sydney Thunder turns 40.

Across a career spanning more than 20 years, one that is still going, Hussey has represented no less than eight international and domestic teams, playing with some of the game’s greats in the process.

But just who is the greatest batsman Mr Cricket has played with?

Well, to narrow it down we’ve counted down our six best, in all the teams, leagues and competitions the legend has played in.

Agree with our order? Vote in the poll!

6. Brendon McCullum

The swashbuckling Black Caps skipper suited up in the bright yellow of the Super Kings with Hussey in the Indian Premier League this season.

McCullum’s exploits since taking over the New Zealand captaincy have been simply inspirational.

The 33-year-old became the first Kiwi to score a triple century in Test cricket, and came within five runs of blasting the fastest double-century ever against Sri Lanka last December.

McCullum’s aggressive attitude has filtered through his charges, leading New Zealand to the World Cup final and third in the Test rankings.

5. Matthew Hayden

The powerful Queenslander played 30 Tests with Hussey, singing ‘Underneath the Southern Cross’ on 22 occasions.

The pair first teamed up in Hussey’s first Test in 2005, walking out together at the Gabba against the West Indies.

While Hussey made only one and 29 on debut, Hayden smashed 118 in the second innings, one of 30 centuries throughout his 103-Test career.

Hayden holds the record for the highest score by an Australian in Test cricket – 380 against Zimbabwe at the WACA in October 2003. 

4. Michael Clarke

Two of Australia’s most gifted batsmen of the modern era, Clarke and Hussey played 71 Tests together in eight years.

Together, the duo combined on 64 occasions at Test level, averaging 55.28 per partnership with nine century stands and a best of 334 against India at the SCG in 2012.

The pair were part of Australia’s successful 2007 World Cup campaign in the Caribbean, and Clarke lifted the trophy again earlier this year in his final one-day international.

Clarke’s glittering career includes 108 Tests for Australia, with an average of more than 50 with 28 hundreds and a high score of 329 not out in the same match the captain and Mr Cricket put on that triple-century stand.

3. Adam Gilchrist

Hussey was a closer witness than most to one of cricket’s most spectacular careers. 

From a sizzling 189 in the 1995-96 Shield final, to a 57-ball Ashes hundred at their home ground of Perth a decade later, Gilchrist proved the perfect teammate for many more than just his left-handed Warriors counterpart. 

Where early in his career Hussey was renowned more as a grafter at the top of the order for WA, he seemed to borrow from the Gilchrist game as his repertoire expanded in Australia’s ODI middle order, becoming one of limited-overs cricket’s great finishers.  

2. Jacques Kallis

After pitting their serious skills against one another at international level for the better part of a decade, Hussey and Kallis combined forces in the electric green of Sydney Thunder for last season’s Big Bash competition. 

In such scenarios, the hype can often outweigh the result, but in the Thunder’s first outing of the summer, the pair exceeded all expectations. 

A record-breaking opening stand (Hussey made 96 off 60, Kallis 97* off 55) gave the kiddies in the crowd a front-row seat to two masters of the game and was arguably the highlight of a tournament chock-full of entertaining moments. 

Hussey commented afterward what a pleasure it had been to bat with Kallis, a man rivalled only by Sir Garfield Sobers as the greatest allrounder of all time, and who had put Hussey’s Australians to the sword on too many occasions to remember in years gone by. 

1. Ricky Ponting

In retirement, Ponting has reflected on Hussey being “my kind of cricketer” and it would be fair to assume the reverse also applied. 

The pair were peas in a pod: passionate about the Baggy Green; possessing an insatiable appetite for runs; and desperate to win. 

Together they steered Australia through a challenging period following the retirements of Warne, McGrath et al, and it was largely Hussey who picked up the slack when Ponting’s remarkable run of run-scoring inevitably went into decline. Yet Hussey was also there for Ponting in his pomp. 

In the West Australian’s Test debut, the Tasmanian made centuries in each innings – a feat he repeated twice in the six months that followed – while a year later he achieved the highest batting average (59.99) of anyone beyond their 100th Test.