Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Fear of failure leaves Hussey flailing

Fear of failure can be paralytic. Not in the sense that you cannot move, but it’s like a cancer that spreads, slowly eating away healthy cells. It is a small seed of self-doubt in the back of your mind. In cricket it is most destructive. One outside edge can cause the best of cover-drivers to let future half-volleys go. One miss-timed pull shot can cause the best of pullers to duck and weave instead. It can cause the best of leavers to doubt his eye and question his off-stump. This is the current ailment of Michael Hussey.

Hussey is a technician. He is a perfectionist ever striving to improve his game. He needs reinforcement that he is on the right track. He is a doubter of his own ability who hides behind hard work and thrives on positive reinforcement. He suffers from fear of failure.

He is the polar opposite of men like Ricky Ponting and Kevin Pietersen. The self-confidence exuded by these two men is the difference between the truly great players and the very good ones. Neither will ever change their games. They never put their shots away. Should they fall to a mistake the seed of self-doubt will not appear. Rather they will look ruefully at a placid surface as if to clarify in their mind that it had suddenly become a mine-field for that one delivery. Or if the surface cannot be blamed they’ll stare down their conqueror as if to conclude that it was impossible for such an inferior bowler to beat them, instead the bowler had produced a ball which could not possibly be repeated.

As insanely arrogant as that sounds it is what separates these two from so many others. They are not paralysed by the fear of failure. Their inherent belief in their own ability overrides any self-doubt. This is why they play this game so well.

Hussey’s failures had to come at some point. He could not sustain such an incredible run of success. After 20 test matches his average was an incredible 84.80. Only Bradman could boast better numbers. In one-day cricket his average after 22 international appearances was a stunning 159.50. 12 not outs from 16 hits played an enormous part but he was striking at 101.26, hardly the rate of a selfish red-ink monger.

These numbers cannot be maintained. Inevitably, there had to be a let-down at some point. Since his 20th test match, against India in Sydney 12 months ago, his test average has plummeted to 59.36. Hard to argue with given that it is still the best average of all current players, but the twelve months themselves are more pertinent. In 14 test matches in that time Hussey has made just 789 runs at 32.87. In one-day cricket his decline over the same period is not as obvious, averaging 46.40, but his strike-rate through the last 22 ODI’s was a career low 74.59.

This is symptomatic of the problem. He is playing with fear. A fear of failure and it is no coincidence that Hussey’s decline in form has mirrored his side’s worst twelve month stretch under Ricky Ponting’s leadership.

For Hussey his battles are in the mind more so than any other player. There is no example of this better than his first two test matches. His first at the Gabba was not the Hussey we’ve come to know. He was paralysed by fear and emotion. Fear that his 15,313 first-class runs were unworthy, emotional that his much coveted baggy green cap had finally arrived before he was ready. He played with that fear against a West Indies attack that was second-rate compared to several Queensland outfits he would’ve faced at the same venue opening for Western Australia.

Twice he was out pulling, a shot that has brought him so many first-class runs. Only a pep talk from Shane Warne, in his underwear smoking a dart in the bathroom, reinforced Hussey’s worthiness and eased his nerves slightly. His second test in Hobart he played without fear. Hussey was aware of Justin Langer’s impending return from a broken rib. He knew this match could be his last for sometime in a baggy green and he vowed to enjoy it. He played his pull shot with authority, and cut, and drove sublimely on his way to a richly deserved first test century.

It kept him in the side and he played with the same freedom throughout his first 20 test matches. That summer he was twice less than 50 when joined by batting bunnies Stuart MacGill and Glenn McGrath, twice he reached test hundreds. They are the type of situations over-thinkers like Hussey can thrive. There is no personal pressure, the team’s advancement is the sole aim, and therefore his game was unshackled from self-imposed technical structures and instinct took over.

He thrived filling the same role in one-day cricket. As a finisher you are self-sacrificing. Hussey either entered trying to turn a total of 300 into 350 or to rescue an unsalvageable sinking wreck. He did both with aplomb, averaging over 100, striking at more than 100, because the fear of personal failure was irrelevant. The team’s cause was key.

Not to mention the support structures that helped this mindset. In test cricket he entered following the platform of Hayden, Langer and Ponting, and played with the batting fail-safes of Gilchrist, Warne, and Lee. If all else failed, Warne and McGrath came to rescue with the ball. In one-day cricket, he batted behind Hayden, Gilchrist, Ponting, Clarke, and Symonds, which if all failed could be rescued with the ball by McGrath, Lee, Clark, Tait, Hogg and or Johnson. Winning breed’s confidence, Australia had it in spades, and throughout Hussey’s first 24 months in international cricket Australia could win from any position in any form of the game.

It is no surprise that his decline has mirrored Australia’s. Despite the cavalcade of stars which surrounded him in the dressing room, Hussey’s performances were integral to the Australian winning way. But his mindset is now different. The lack of experienced support staff around him has placed more value on his runs. He hasn’t played with the freedom he once had, the seed of self-doubt has appeared and it has been hard to shake. He fell twice attempting to leave in Brisbane against New Zealand in November. The press questioned a skill that was a trademark for Hussey despite the fact that he fell to a superb piece of bowling in the first innings, and a poor piece of umpiring in the second. He obviously listened to the press. In three of his five dismissals against South Africa he was caught behind the wicket feeling for his off-stump.

In one-day cricket, the absence of Ponting, Clarke, and Symonds at various times in the last year has seen him become a permanent fixture in the top five. All of his success in one-day cricket has come as a closer batting at six. Playing that role successfully for Western Australia following failures opening had led to his international elevation. Amazingly he opened in the first one-day international against South Africa and he has never looked more lost in international cricket. The pressure of seven men in the ring didn’t allow Hussey to nerdle 20 without taking a risk and a blank canvas scoreboard meant there was far more focus on his individual tally. The doubts creep in, fear of failure takes over and tentativeness ensues.

Hussey has suffered this before in first-class cricket. In 2001, he was the overseas professional for Northamptonshire in the County Championship. He wrote of his fears about his initial failings that year in his autobiography, Mr Cricket: Driven to Succeed. He could not buy a run in his first seven starts. He feared that his teammates didn’t respect him as the overseas professional because he had not played international cricket and he feared that he’d let the club down. It was a simple suggestion from the coach to play a one-day game without fear and complete freedom that turned his winter around. He smashed 96 and never looked back. The weight was removed from shoulders which led to three record breaking county seasons. It laid the platform for his phenomenal international career to date.

He now needs to remember that advice. He needs to play without fear. His preparation would not have changed. His mindset in the middle has.

Perhaps the right move from a team perspective would be to shift him back to six where he made his name, and promote Brad Haddin to four and allow him more time to expand on his all-round stroke-play.

There is no doubt that a fearless Mr Cricket is vital to the success of this Australian team. Now it is more vital than ever.

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