Hussey profits from slice of Luck

Australia's Mike Hussey wore a sheepish smile after seeing his side to a one-day win over England in Brisbane.
Here is the Live Scorecard of the Match.


England were convinced Hussey should have been given out caught behind on 19 but he survived and finished with 46 not out in a four-wicket victory.

"I don't walk, there's no question about it. I've been given out a few times when I haven't been out.

"If I do happen to get out and umpire doesn't give me, that's just the way the game goes," Hussey commented.
Australia would have been 103-6, chasing a target of 156, had Hussey been given after an undistinguished effort by the top order.

And acting captain Adam Gilchrist admitted they had been taught a valuable lesson.

"We were made to work for it which is probably going to hold us in good stead in keeping us sharp. It's not that we were getting complacent, but at the half-way mark I don't think too many people expected it to go that way.

"It's a credit to England for not lying down, they certainly put in a great effort - but it's good for our guys, particularly in that middle order, to get put under pressure and come out with the points," he said.
"Tonight was valuable experience for all of us. At the top of the order, we made a few bad decisions in our shot selection, so we'll learn from that and hopefully take it forward into the rest of this competition and then to the World Cup."

Gilchrist said Hussey had taken up the "legacy" of Michael Bevan, who was Australia's middle- order finisher until the 2003 World Cup.

"He bases his game around Michael Bevan. He's perfected that sort of deft touch role, but he's also got the power game, so he can go in there and absorb pressure but he can also go in there with 10 overs left and start to clear the boundary," he added.

Despite the low scoring, Hussey said it had been a "pretty good wicket" which had a little bit in it for everyone.

"It always does a little bit more at night here and there was still a good sheen on the ball even after 38 overs there at the end, so it is hard to get any consistency and fluency with your batting and it keeps the bowlers interested all the time.

"Maybe in one-day cricket you're trying to get on with it a little bit too much and both teams didn't assess the situation or the conditions as well as we should have," he added.

Gilchrist, meanwhile, offered words of encouragement to England debutant Mal Loye, who took on the Australian attack and made 36 at the start of their innings.

"Great intent, that's what you need at the top of the order in one-day cricket. He came out there and had a game plan that he knew, albeit a bit unorthodox but very aggressive," he said.

"I guess the more he gets exposed at this level, there's a challenge whether he'll show the conviction to keep going with that approach but he certainly put us on the back foot and we were glad to see the back of him."