No emotional goodbyes for Mr Cricket
He wants to leave Sydney Thunder by leading them to a Big Bash League League finals match, but don’t expect any outpourings of emotion from Mike Hussey if Saturday’s SCG derby against the Sixers turns out to be his Australian cricket swansong.
Thunder are fifth and need to beat the seventh-placed Sixers to have any chance of making an inaugural finals appearance.
Hussey’s input over the past two seasons has helped turn Thunder from the competition’s perennial cellar-dwelling basket case into a side that commands respect.
At age 40 he leads their runscorers with 236 runs at 59, but won’t be playing on beyond this year.
Universally admired for his professionalism, manner and selflessness, Hussey has given no thought to the possibility Saturday’s game could be his last significant one in Australia if Thunder lose.
“To me the whole time with me being here at the Thunder has not been about me,” Hussey said before dispensing some of his vast cricketing wisdom to the team chosen as the winner of Optus Cricket Legends SMB competition.
“It’s been about building something from below ground zero up to something that I want us all to be proud of, and I want the club to have sustained success, so that’s been my whole focus.
“Obviously I want to contribute to the team with runs and things like that, but if I hadn’t have done that but the team had really grown, then I would have been happy. That was the motivation for coming here in the first place.
“I’m not anticipating getting nostalgic or emotional or anything when I do finally play my last game for the Thunder.
“But what I will really reflect on is `is the team and is the club in a much better place than when I first came here?’
“Maybe that’s for others to judge, a little bit, but it’s also for me to judge as well and I feel like we are in a better place. But I really want sustainable success on the field as well.
“We’ve obviously played better and more consistent again this year, but I’d really love to make the finals to show that the improvement is definitely still going.”
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Thunder have lost four on trot after winning their first three, but have been competitive in every match of their 2015-16 campaign.
“In all those games that we’ve lost we’ve actually been in winning positions in every single one,” Hussey said.
“That’s probably the disappointing thing is that we get ourselves into those winning positions, but we still haven’t learnt how to push through that barrier and learnt how to win those tight games.”
-AAP
