Melbourne, November 20: After clinging on to his spot for the first Test against the West Indies, left-hand batsman Mike Hussey has set his sights on helping Australia regain the Ashes next year.
While acknowledging he would have to fight hard for his place in the whole three-Test series against the West Indies, Hussey said yesterday his intention was to play on until at least next year’s home Ashes campaign against England.
”I’d love to be there, definitely,” Hussey said.
”I’ll be doing everything I can and trying to score as many runs as possible to be part of that team.
”To lose an Ashes series certainly gives you that burning desire to win the Ashes back. So, yeah, I’ve definitely got no plans to be finishing before that.” Hussey averaged 34.50 during the series in England – taking his career average down to 52.65 – but did score a century in the last match at The Oval and then showed terrific form in the limited-overs game in England, South Africa and most recently India.
Hussey said he was quiet confident he would retain his spot in the Test side after support from captain Ricky Ponting.
”I had read some of Ricky’s comments, he was always very supportive and it sounded like he was backing me so that gave me the confidence to come in today,” he said.
”I don’t know if relief was the right word but I’m very happy to be part of the 12 and excited about the summer ahead.
”It would be nice to get a big score in the first couple of Tests to really slam it home.”
——Agencies