‘The biggest regret I’ve had in cricket’

Former Australia batsman Brad Hodge says freezing up during his one and only Boxing Day Test is “one of the biggest regrets” from his long time playing the game.

A proud Victorian, Hodge’s only Test at the MCG came against South Africa in 2005, the game after he blazed a double century against the Proteas in just his third Test.

Now 43, Hodge says the hype around him heading into the match as a local boy made good distracted him and saw him ‘fail pretty miserably’ out on the field.

“It was a dream come true, but it’s also one of the biggest regrets I’ve had in cricket, if not the only one,” Hodge told SEN.

“On that particular day I didn’t really play or have the courage to play the way I wanted to play.

“The build-up to the Boxing Day Test was a really tough one for me and I hadn’t had that before.

“I was coming off a 200 in Perth, there was media attention, there was family attention, there were all sorts of things that distracted me from the game of cricket.

“I probably wasn’t in the right space to be able to combat that and when the game came around, I asked Ricky (Ponting) how he did it and basically, I tried to follow the recipe of which he had been successful at – and failed pretty miserably.

“One of the things I would have loved to have done was have another crack at the Boxing Day Test and play the way I knew how to play.”

Hodge made scores of 7 and 24 in that match, which the Australians won comfortably, caught behind the wicket driving on both occasions.

He made 6 and 27 not out in the SCG Test that followed and then was controversially axed from the squad to tour South Africa a few months later despite averaging 77 for the series.

Hodge was replaced by veteran Damien Martyn for the return series against the Proteas, a decision that was vindicated somewhat when Martyn scored 57 in the second Test of the series and a match-winning century in the third.

The Victorian played one more Test in 2008, scoring 67 and 27 as a fill-in for Michael Clarke in the West Indies in 2008, but would finish his career with just six Tests to his name and an average of almost 59.

Speaking two years ago, Hodge said his sudden axing still hurt a decade later.

“At the time Damien Martyn was averaging 14 in Shield cricket, but he’s such a wonderful player,” Hodge told The Howie Games.

“The one thing I always tell people personally, which I struggle with, is the selectors didn’t have the courage to say, ‘You know what, we know Marto’s a legend of the game, but this guy’s come in for us and got 500 runs, and we have to give that guy another chance’. And that never happened. It breaks your heart really.

“I look back and I’ve digested it many times, and the one thing that kills me is I only ever got out below 23 three times ... that hurt.

“One of the things that hurts is if you read those numbers out, I thought that’s what Australian cricket wanted from me, and I don’t think I could be any better.”

Victorian opener Aaron Finch is set to play his first Boxing Day Test this week alongside state teammate Marcus Harris – who was born and raised in Western Australia – while fellow Vics batsman Peter Handscomb is hoping to hold off the challenge of Mitchell Marsh and take his place in the XI to face India.

Domain Test Series v India

Dec 6-10: India won by 31 runs

Dec 14-18: Australia won by 146 runs

Dec 26-30: Third Test, MCG

Jan 3-7: Fourth Test, SCG

Australia squad: Tim Paine (c, wk), Josh Hazlewood (vc), Mitch Marsh (vc), Pat Cummins, Aaron Finch, Peter Handscomb, Marcus Harris, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Shaun Marsh, Peter Siddle, Mitchell Starc, Archie Schiller

India squad: Virat Kohli (c), Murali Vijay, KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Hardik Pandya, Hanuma Vihari, Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant (wk), Parthiv Patel (wk), Ravi Ashwin, Ravi Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar