SWITCHING FORMATS

Australia rope in Michael Hussey for Boxing Day Test

by Cricbuzz Staff • Published on

Hussey will switch roles from player to coach and help Australia's Test batsmen readjust © Cricbuzz

With the Boxing Day Test coming up later in the week, Cricket Australia roped in Michael Hussey to help the players make a seamless transition back to Test cricket, following a mini-stint with the Big Bash League.

Six members of Australia's Test squad Adam Voges, Shaun and Mitchell Marsh, Usman Khawaja, Joe Burns and Nathan Lyon featured in the BBL while Nathan Coulter-Nile, who was expected to make his Test debut in Melbourne, is now likely to miss the Test after suffering a shoulder injury while fielding in the T20 league. The ones returning to white kits will have less than a week to shift back into Test mode from the T20 format.

The Australian squad is scheduled to assemble in Melbourne on Tuesday (December 22) with Hussey being handed the task of fine tuning them for the second Test against the West Indies. The 79-Test veteran doesn't reckon it to be an easy task and feels it will take time for players to adjust.

"It takes time and that's why it's difficult for Test players coming back for one-off T20 games to make the adjustments. To me, I thought it took a few weeks to be fully adjusted between different formats. Just trying to get in line with the ball, let more balls go and play straighter in Tests is not easy," the 40-year-old told News Corp.

Hussey, who was previously roped in as South Africa's batting consultant during World Cup 2015 and their recently-concluded T20I series in India, also felt that the shift in mindset could have a lot to do with the mental aspect of an individual's game.

"It can be a bit of a mental thing. Going back to a Test match, youre almost trying to bat more properly if you like and you can be a bit more inhibited in your stroke play. It can be hard to deal with but the more you do it, the more experienced and hopefully better at it youre going to get," said Hussey, who is also taking part in the BBL this year as the captain of Sydney Thunder.

© Cricbuzz