Strange sight Down Under as Hussey joins Proteas camp

MELBOURNE — South Africans and Australians would have been stopped in their tracks by the sight that greeted them at SA’s training session at Junction Oval in St Kilda yesterday, writes Telford Vice

Yes, that was Mike Hussey. And, yes, he was wearing a South African shirt. Hussey’s appointment by SA as a consultant for the World Cup was reported earlier this month. Yesterday was his first day on the job.

The former Australian batsman was seen in earnest conversation with Faf du Plessis and JP Duminy.

Du Plessis would seem to be more in need of Hussey’s help. He has made it clear that his role is to score centuries, but he has gone 13 innings — all but one of them completed — without reaching three figures.

Duminy is fresh off scoring 115 not out in SA’s World Cup opener against Zimbabwe in Hamilton on Sunday, but that was only his fifth innings after returning from a knee injury that had kept him out for more than a month.

Du Plessis and Duminy will be key figures in SA’s bid to beat India at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Sunday.

But Hussey had to share the coaching spotlight with Gary Kirsten, who also joined the squad yesterday as a consultant after attending the Indian Premier League player auction on Monday. About 9,000km separate Bangalore, where the auction was held, from Melbourne, but Kirsten was fully involved in his work.

SA’s convener of selectors, Andrew Hudson, was also out there in training gear.

Dale Steyn was conspicuous by his absence because of a dose of flu. SA’s spearhead has had a quiet World Cup so far, being hit for 40 runs in seven overs in one of SA’s warm-up matches, missing the other, and taking 1-64 in nine overs against Zimbabwe.

Hamilton Masakadza smashing cricket’s premier fast bowler over extra cover for six summed up Steyn’s tournament so far. Steyn will want to change that status on Sunday, when SA will need him to keep India’s powerful batting line-up in check.

SA’s training session yesterday was “vision only” in media speak, meaning no interviews would be conducted. But that did not stop about 30 members of the Indian media contingent from studying the players’ every move. Every time a player or a coach ventured too close to the press pack he was pounced on for a quotable line.

Two South African reporters who had turned up to watch the practice were assailed by their Indian colleagues. Unlike squad members they had no easy escape onto the field — where journalists were not allowed.

The questions came thick and fast, and more than once: “Why has Kirsten not been with the squad all along? Is Paddy Upton still involved? Are SA using a psychologist? Who is he?”

The last brought a sharp retort from the Saffer: “You need a psychologist.”

The world through the eyes of many Indian cricket journalists is a strange and sad place — invariably Indocentric and never without cricket as its be-all and end-all.

Why has Kirsten not been with the squad all along? Is Paddy Upton still involved? Are SA using a psychologist?