Hussey describes the dark side of poor form

Cricket365
November 27, 2013

Former Australia batsman Michael Hussey says facing a constant barrage of fast bowling, especially when your mind's not in the right place, is 'uncomfortable' and empathises with England batsman Jonathan Trott's situation.

Trott left the current Ashes tour this week, citing a stress-related illness, which wasn't helped by a torrid period in the first Test were Mitchell Johnson's bowling had him backed into a corner.

Hussey, while not claiming a similar mental affliction, said he could relate to the pressure, having himself suffered against South Africa paceman Dale Steyn in 2009, and at other times in his career.

Hussey told <i>ESPNcricinfo</i>: "It's a very uncomfortable position to be in really, when you probably know you're not batting as well as you'd like, and you know what the opposition are going to do to you and you don't really have a way out of it.

"You can go one of two ways, either go into survival mode, which is pretty dangerous as well and you're probably going to wear a few, or you can take it on and there's risk involved in that.

"If you can get away it puts a bit of doubt back into the bowler's mind, but Michael Clarke had really good fields set that made it difficult to get away as well.

"It's a very uncomfortable position to be in, especially if you're mentally not in the best shape you possibly can be, you're probably not thinking as clearly as you'd like, so it's a horrible place to be."

Mr Cricket was then asked if the constant touring and being away from family made matters worse, and he replied: "Most definitely the time away from home is very challenging, and you do get lonely.

"Your teammates are there, but you still go back to your room at the end of the day's play and certainly if you're not playing well or the team's not winning you do get a bit down.

"I can't even begin to empathise with what Jonathan Trott is going through, but if things aren't going well you can get a bit lonely, a bit depressed, and a bit negative.

"I certainly battled with myself mentally, but I didn't have an illness. So it's got to be 100 times worse if you've got an illness.

"That's why it's the right decision for him to get away from it all, get home, get diagnosed correctly and get the proper treatment.

"It is just a game of cricket, I know they're very important games of cricket and it's the Ashes and all that sort of stuff, but surely your health is a lot more important than any cricket match."