By Jon Steer
April 5 2005

Michael Hussey has been named in the Australian squad for the one day internationals in England this Summer that form part of the Ashes tour. He has however failed to make the squad for the test matches, which comes as some relief to Durham supporters! Hussey played well in the one day series against Neew Zealand earlier in the year but was not retained for the test series. The selectors view of him as a one day specialist has continued into the Summer fixtures. Had Hussey been named in the Ashes squad he would have missed the majority of the domestic season, something which had been a big worry for Durham. As it stands Hussey is likly to be unavailable from just before the International Twenty20 match on 13th June until after the final Natwest Challenge match on 12th July. In what has become the longest domestic season to date it is a shame but it could have been worse.

The period that Hussey will be unavailable for is dominated by the Twenty20 cup so hopefully Hussey will only be missing for three first class matches - away to Essex and Northants on the 9th and 15th of June and then home to Lancashire on the 8th July.

Hussey has recently returned to Australia after spending a week with the Durham squad in the United Arab Emirates, while he didn't play any competitive cricket there he did take the opportunity to get to know the rest of the squad and to see them in action.

Shaun Tait who had a disastrous spell with Durham last season has made the Ashes squad so we could be seeing something of him this Summer - he recovered well from his appearances in England to have a very successful home season and is seen as a future spearhead of the Australian attack.

Australian squads for the tour of England:

Test Squad: Matthew Hayden, Justin Langer, Ricky Ponting, Damien Martyn, Brad Hodge, Simon Katich, Michael Clarke, Adam Gilchrist, Brad Haddin, Jason Gillespie, Shane Warne, Brett Lee, Michael Kasprowicz, Shaun Tait, Stuart MacGill, Glenn McGrath.

ODI Squad: Matthew Hayden, Adam Gilchrist, Ricky Ponting, Damien Martyn, Simon Katich, Andrew Symonds, Michael Clarke, Michael Hussey, Brad Haddin, Shane Watson, Brad Hogg, Jason Gillespie, Brett Lee, Michael Kasprowicz, Glenn McGrath.