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David Hussey cannot command a place in Australia's first-choice side for
the World Twenty20 despite being the most prolific run scorer in T20
history. Hussey has fallen out of favour with the national selectors
over the past few games, having been dropped from the third match
against Pakistan in Dubai earlier this month and left out of Australia's
two warm-ups against New Zealand and England in Sri Lanka.
Nobody in world cricket has scored more T20 runs than Hussey's 4670 and only Albie Morkel has played more matches in the format
than the 189 Hussey has taken part in. But Australia's selectors have
preferred Hussey's Victorian team-mate Glenn Maxwell in the role of
power-hitting offspinning allrounder, although the coach Mickey Arthur
said Hussey could yet play a part in the tournament.
"We wanted to get everything structured and stable before we went into
the tournament," told reporters after Australia's loss to England in
Monday's warm-up match. "Seven doesn't go into six. One guy has to miss
out. Since I've come in [as coach] he's played every game, bar the start
of this tournament [and the last match in Dubai].
"We wanted to get a little bit more from Dave and we wanted Dave to
finish games a little bit more than what he has. He's aware of that.
We've had some good honest chats about it. Dave is still very clearly in
the mix and down the line could play a really big role in this
tournament."
Hussey, 35, retained his Cricket Australia contract during the
off-season as he was viewed as a key man in T20 and ODI cricket, but the
emergence of Maxwell, 23, has squeezed him out, while the selectors are
also keen to find a place for the medium-pace bowling allrounder Daniel
Christian. Arthur said Maxwell had shown plenty of promise during his
initial matches for Australia.
"Glenn has played some really good one-day innings for us. He's got a bit about him," Arthur said.
"If he has a good tournament he's certainly a guy who can win games for us. Dave's probably a little bit unlucky."
The Australians will have only 14 men to choose from for their
tournament opener against Ireland in Colombo, with the spinner Xavier
Doherty having flown home for the birth of his first child. Doherty is
expected to rejoin the squad on Thursday, a day after the Ireland game.
Arthur said Australia would be wary of the giant-killing Ireland, who
earlier this month were briefly ahead of Australia on the ICC's T20
rankings.
Last year, Ireland beat England in the 50-over World Cup in what was one
of the best matches of the tournament, and they defeated Pakistan in
the 2007 World Cup. The Australians also know how easy it is to make a
shaky start in the unforgiving T20 format, having lost their first World
T20 match to Zimbabwe in 2007 and having been bundled out at the group
stage in 2009.
"I know I'll only rest easy when that game's passed," Arthur said.
"That's not through fear of failure. They have been a giant-killer and
they're playing with a quite nice bit of freedom. Any team in this
competition can win if they have a good day."
Although Ireland have only once beaten an ICC Full Member in a T20 international - they overcame Bangladesh
in the 2009 World T20 - Australia would underestimate them at their
peril. Shane Watson, the vice-captain, said Australia's form in the
shortest format was such that they could not afford to give Ireland a
sniff on Wednesday.
"Not too many guys have been talking about it but deep inside everyone
knows they are a very dangerous team," Watson said. "They've got some
highly skilled players and we certainly have to be at our best to make
sure we dominate the game. We need to be at our best against Ireland to
make a statement in our first game because we have been very up and down
with our form."
The Australians finished their recent series against Pakistan on a high
thanks to a 94-run win in the last match in Dubai, and they soundly
defeated New Zealand in their
first warm-up match in Colombo on Saturday. However, in their second
practice game against England on Monday, a nine-run loss, Australia's
fast men struggled to control the swing in the humid conditions - they
averaged one wide every two overs - and it is something they will need
to manage in their group matches against Ireland and West Indies.
"That's going to be one of the crucial things, controlling that new-ball
swing," Watson said. "In this humidity the new ball is going to swing
and we have got guys who can swing the ball, Pat Cummins and Mitchell
Starc, so we have to make sure we can control it because we can't afford
to have that many extras. In the end that was the reason they got 170,
and it lets the batsmen off."
© ESPN EMEA Ltd.
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