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Michael Hussey's Postcards |
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WEDNESDAY 12 SEPTEMBER 2001
Life at Northampton: Mike Hussey reflects on an exhilarating first season of county cricket
I am coming to the end of my first season of county cricket for Northamptonshire and what an experience it has been. When I first signed for the club in January I really didn't know what to expect, but the thought of playing cricket day in-day out was a very attractive one.
The club of Northampton is one that is striving to be successful in the Division One competition and the professionalism of the players and the coaching staff is a credit to people involved with the club. Matthew Hayden was the overseas player and captain last season and the work that he and coach Bob Carter have done to change the culture of the English game at Northampton is amazing. I only hope that the team enjoys the success that will hopefully come from the hard work that has been put in.
I had heard many negatives about county cricket before I arrived but I have to say I have been suitably impressed by the work ethic and attitude of the players at Northampton. The impression that I had been given of English players was that they were lazy, showed little passion for the club and often cruised in their comfort zone. But such a view has been proved incorrect because the culture being instilled over the last few years is slowly filtering through.
Many people in England have asked me to compare the standard of county cricket to the standard of Pura Cup cricket in Australia. It is very difficult to compare because of the vast differences in each country. In Australia, for example, a player may have a week or so to recover from the previous match and prepare for the coming match so that they are ready to give their all for four days and know they have time to recover again at the end of the game.
In county cricket, there are so many fixtures that a player may play a game from Wednesday to Saturday, follow it with a one-day match on the Sunday, then pack up their kit bags and travel to the next game on the Monday and begin play again on the Tuesday. As a fast bowler it has to wear you down and make it difficult to be 100% for every match. The standard of the players that I have seen is not any better or worse than in Australia, but I think that back home the reality is that every game is so important that you can't afford to let your guard down for a second.
One of the reasons why I was so keen to play county cricket was because I would gain experience in another country playing in different conditions and against different bowlers. From a cricket education point of view it has been fantastic having a bat in my hands nearly every day in match situations developing my game as much as I can. In addition, being the overseas player means you are expected to score the majority of the runs and having that added pressure and responsibility has been good for me to experience.
As a team, we at Northants have had a tough year. We have been battling to avoid relegation into the second division in both the CricInfo Championship and the National League. Our team has been cut down by injury before and during the season which hasn't helped our cause, but we have been able to develop some stars of the future in their absence. The team has made good progress during the season, although a lot of work still needs to be done to develop the players sufficiently to help Northants compete with the best counties in the land.
I have had a wonderful experience overall and I feel it has helped me to develop my game along the way. I have enjoyed the season with a great bunch of lads. But I also have to admit I can't wait to return home to the WACA and begin another huge summer of domestic cricket. The guys in Perth are very excited about the coming season and I am beginning to share the same excitement.
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