Hussey holds firm

Mike Hussey pulls in style, laying the platform for a late assault © Getty Images

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Among the reasons for England’s Ashes success last year, meticulous planning must rank highly.

It was clear throughout the 2005 series that the coaching staff had formulated specific strategies for the Australians, with each batsman afforded his own portfolio containing what amounted to a how-to guide to capturing his wicket.

If England have employed a similar practice this time around, one can only assume Mike Hussey’s folder contains little more than thin air.

The left-hander has been arguably the biggest thorn in England’s side during the current series, more so than the prolific Ricky Ponting, for there can be few in the England camp who expected Hussey to prove such a formidable opponent, and fewer still who have pinpointed anything resembling a weakness.

Only Ponting can better Hussey’s tally of 415 runs, a figure swelled by his contribution of 103 in the second innings of the third Test in Perth.

No statistic highlights the headaches he has caused England’s bowlers better than the fact he has batted for more than 19 hours in the series, with his latest effort spanning much of the morning session and all of the afternoon.

That Hussey reached three figures hardly came as a surprise - he made 86 in Brisbane, 91 and 61 not out in Adelaide and an unbeaten 74 on the opening day of this Test - but, ironically, his first Ashes century was far from his best innings of the last three weeks.

Hussey works the ball to leg during his 148-ball century

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He opened his account with an edge between first and second slip and was dropped twice en route to a 148-ball hundred that served not only as a significant landmark in his own career but helped lay the platform for Adam Gilchrist’s brutal late assault.

Monty Panesar, in particular, may remember longer than Hussey an unsuccessful appeal for what appeared a regulation bat-pad catch at silly mid-off, while the centurion was also struck on the helmet by a steepling Harmison bouncer.

That Hussey survived those difficult periods is testament to his remarkable temperament, which many observers reckon to be the most valuable part of his cricket armoury.

Lacking Matthew Hayden’s power, the panache of Ricky Ponting or Adam Gilchrist’s electric hand speed, Hussey’s batting appears unobtrusive by comparison.

He is an adept manipulator of the ball - as befits a man who made his name on the international stage in one-day cricket - but he has demonstrated a sufficiently broad range of strokes during this series to more than justify his ranking as the sixth best Test batsman in the world.

Geraint Jones reprieves Hussey after a rare mistake

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Hussey was particularly harsh on anything short of a length, and the shot which took him to three figures - an emphatic pull off Harmison that fizzed back past the bowler's right foot - reflected his shot-making capabilities as well as his burgeoning confidence.

Nicknamed ‘Mr Cricket’, his passion for the game is well known, and a seemingly insatiable appetite for scoring runs led Australia team-mate Justin Langer to describe him as “the hungriest player I’ve ever seen”.

On the evidence of Hussey’s embryonic Test career - his average stands at a staggering 81 in the 14 Tests since he made his debut, aged 30, barely a year ago - it is difficult to disagree.

Even before Gilchrist’s pyrotechnics, England’s faint hopes of salvaging something from this encounter, and the series, were receding with every swing of Hussey’s blade.

England can no longer point to a lack of material on Hussey, but it remains to be seen whether that makes much difference.