Hussey is Australia's new Bevan - Taylor
Mark Taylor, the former Australia captain, believes Michael Hussey has the potential to become his country's replacement for Michael Bevan
Cricinfo staff
15-Jan-2006
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"He certainly has a lot of similarities to Michael Bevan in his ability to bat with the tail and eke out every run that's available," Taylor told The Age. "They are both great runners between wickets and have fantastic technique and great concentration, so you rarely get them throwing their wickets away.
"Where Hussey might have a bit of an advantage is his confidence in finding and clearing the boundary regularly. Bevan was certainly capable of doing that, but saved that sort of thing until very late. Hussey's comfortable going over the top from very early in his innings."
Bevan was widely regarded as one of the game's best one-day finishers with his ability to nurture the lower order and chase down large totals in a calm, determined manner. He finished his career with 6912 runs at 53.58, which is by far the best for any batsman in ODI history.
Despite Australia's loss to South Africa on Sunday, Hussey yet again made his mark. He put on 123 with Brett Lee before taking a brilliant one-handed diving catch to dismiss Ashwell Prince. "He is super fit and has a fantastic work ethic and I can see him being a real mainstay in the team for the next five or six years," Taylor said.
"He is made for international cricket and I think everyone is thrilled to see him doing what he is doing given how long it took him to get his chance. He has opened the batting for Western Australia on numerous occasions and has one of the tightest techniques in the Australian side, so I think they should look at pushing him up the order, particularly if they lose two or three early wickets, like they did tonight. He is a natural scorer, but is also able to knuckle down when necessary and, as he has shown, can be very difficult to remove once he gets set."