Having left a rich legacy by becoming one of the best middle-order stalwarts across all formats of the game, former Australian batsmen Mike  Hussey has said that batting at no.5 and 6 is one of the toughest jobs in our sport for the difficult and varying situations that players face at these positions. 

Since his retirement from the game at the highest level in 2013 after having scored 6,235 from 79 Tests and 5,442 from 185 ODIs, Australia are yet to really fill the void that Hussey left. He was one of the biggest match-winners in T20I cricket too. 

“They’re challenging because there’s so many different situations in games that you can come out to, You might come in and your team is in trouble and you have to resurrect the innings, you might come in and you’ve got to tee off and may throw your wicket away." Hussey was quoted saying to foxsports.com.au, "You might come in when the ball is reverse swinging and you’ve got to bat with the tail so you have to think your way through it. It can be a really difficult position to bat.”

With David Warner and Steve Smith missing from the game for another one year atleast, Australia is currently in search of solid top six across all formats. Hussey gave his insight into this issue and said, “I’d be looking for the six best batsmen in Australia, My belief is those guys have had to have dominated Sheffield Shield cricket for a number of seasons – not just half a season, or one season – they’ve had to have dominated."

“Because if they’ve dominated for a number of seasons, they build up that experience, they understand their own game a bit better and they’ll be better adapting at going up and down the order.”