Michael Hussey turns down England Test role to sign part-time contract with Australia | Cricket game
Michael Hussey turned down the chance to become England’s Test batting coach in favor of a part-time deal with Cricket Australia.
The former Australian batsman last month held talks with Stephen Fleming, England’s new Test coach, about joining his backroom staff but it is understood he has opted to remain in Australia to bolster Pat Cummins’ squad ahead of next year’s Ashes.
It is believed that Hussie accepted Cricket game He offered Australia a consulting role because it gives him the flexibility to continue current commitments, such as coaching at the Hundred and other franchises, as well as commentary and criticism work for Fox Sports in Australia.
The 51-year-old was the head coach of the Welsh Fire Centenary this year and served as the batting coach of the Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League.
Fleming worked closely with Hussey during his 18 years at CSK as a player and coach which ended this year, but was unable to convince him to join England.
Hussey coached England on a part-time consultancy contract during their victorious T20 World Cup campaign in 2022, but a full-time job as Test batting coach would have been more difficult given this winter features tours to South Africa, Bangladesh and Australia ahead of next summer’s home Ashes series.
The Test schedule in Australia is equally intense, but Haase will be allowed to fit his coaching duties around other commitments.
Fleming will be allowed to continue the search for a batting coach, although the England and Wales Cricket Board may opt to retain Marcus Trescothick, who has impressed in a caretaker role in the current Test series against Pakistan.
If Trescothick stays with the Test team, the ECB could opt to appoint a new head of batting coaching across all its development squads.
Cricket Australia and the ECB declined to comment.
Meanwhile, former Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq resigned from the national selection committee following Monday’s decision to join the team. Dropping seven players and changing coaches Two-thirds through the team’s Test series against England.
It emerged that after the Pakistan Cricket Board announced those decisions, they contacted the selectors for written explanations for some of their selections, including those of Imam-ul-Haq, who started the second match and spent most of it out on the field suffering from a calf injury, and wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Rizwan.
Rizwan’s selection was not controversial: he is Pakistan’s third-highest run-scorer over the past decade, was second in the run-scoring charts in 2024 and 2025, and Babar Azam is now the only Pakistani batsman above him in the ICC rankings.
But his preservation came under fire during last week’s Lord’s Test, and during the first match against Bangladesh in May – one of the team’s five defeats in six Tests this year – Bangladesh wicketkeeper-batsman Liton Das was heard saying: “His reputation is bad in his country. If he tries to bat and get out, he won’t get in his country. His reputation is really bad.”
The decision to reform the team midway through the series was widely criticized in Pakistan. Written by Shahid Afridi He is “not sure of the logic or reason behind the decision” and that “the substitutions do not make any sense.” Shoaib Malik, like Afridi, the former Test captain, He wrote that He added, “Accountability must begin with those who broke the system, not with the players,” adding that “such psychological pressure” would cause “fear of failure.” [to] “It stays in the minds of our players.”
Additional reporting by Simon Burnton
