Hussey aims to put WC hurt to good use

BANGALORE, Mar 11 (AFP): Michael Hussey is planning to use the hurt he felt at being left out of Australia's World Cup squad to good use now he finds himself back with the champions in the subcontinent. And the man nicknamed 'Mr Cricket' stressed that, unlike Australia captain Ricky Ponting, who has quit Twenty20 internationals, he had no intention of retiring from shorter formats of the game in order to prolong his Test career. "It took me so long to get just one game for Australia, so I don't want to pull up stumps on anything too soon," Hussey, who had to wait a decade before making his Test debut in 2005, said Friday. The experienced left-handed batsman was omitted from Australia's squad that travelled to the World Cup despite telling the under-fire selectors he would be fit following hamstring surgery. He had been in the original 15. A panel chaired by former Test batsman Andrew Hilditch felt they could not take the risk, despite Hussey's assurances. However, a tournament-ending injury to fast bowler Doug Bollinger allowed Australia to call up a surprised Hussey, who averages nearly 52 in 151 ODIs, as his replacement. "I found it pretty difficult to take for a while, but I then used all that energy and emotion to rehab and get better as fast as I could," Hussey said. "We thought that if there was an injury, I couldn't be the one to come in and replace.