Chappell denies advising Hussey to retire
By IANSMonday, February 21, 2011
SYDNEY - Australian selector and former India coach Greg Chappell has denied advising experienced batsman Michael Hussey to retire.
Hussey was dropped from the Australian World Cup squad as the selectors deemed it risky to include him after his recent hamstring surgery.
The 35-year-old is furious at the decision as he felt he would have been fit for Australia’s second group match of the World Cup.
The veteran, in fact, has had a vigorous training session with Western Australia (WA) Sunday and was even selected for WA’s Sheffield Shield clash with Tasmania, only to be withdrawn when higher powers at Cricket Australia intervened, the Daily Telegraph reported.
“That’s untrue,” Chappell said when asked whether he advised Hussey to retire.
Chappell also said there was nothing sinister behind Hussey’s late withdrawal from the WACA Warriors T20 side.
“In the nets yesterday he was pretty excited by the way he pulled up, but in discussions between Cricket Australia medical staff and West Australian medical staff, they decided it was probably imprudent to try and rush it,” Chappell said.
“They decided to stick to the original plan - try and play some club cricket over the weekend and resume on March 3. They jointly agreed to stick to that plan.”
