Tooradin recruit Tom Hussey has made an immediate impact on the WGCA Premier Division this season. His class shines through in this straight drive against Cardinia in round one. 71574 Picture: Stewart Chambers
By David Nagel
TOORADIN’s firing gun recruit, Tom Hussey, is not afraid to admit he’d had enough of playing Victorian Premier Cricket at Casey-South Melbourne last season.
Things weren’t going well at the Swans and the lure of playing with long time mates such as Aaron Avery and Callum O’Hare at the Seagulls was becoming stronger and stronger.
So now here he is, opening the batting for Tooradin and dominating opposition attacks in the process.
“I started playing district cricket with Dandenong when I was 15 and by the end of last season I’d just had enough,” Hussey, 23, said.
“There were a lot of one-dayers in that comp at the start of last year and I was coming in with only a few overs to go, it just didn’t suit my game.
“I couldn’t score at the rate required so I started playing stupid shots and it just went down hill form there.
“At the end of the season I was missing training due to work commitments, it was just a bad year all round.”
Casey-South Melbourne’s loss is the Seagulls gain and Hussey has led the way with the willow for most of this year, Cardinia’s Neil Barfuss knocking him from the top of the run scoring list with last round’s double century.
Hussey has made 287 runs this season with the highlight being his 101 in round two against Officer. He also had good games against Beaconsfield in round three and Pakenham in round five, scoring 77 in both games.
It’s the failure to convert those two seventies into centuries and two unfortunate run-outs that have been the only hiccups in an other wise stellar season. The two run-outs cost him the opportunity to test his wares against two West Gippsland power houses, Cardinia and Kooweerup.
“Yeah, a bit of bad luck there but when you’re pushing for runs these things happen,” he said
Hussey expects the Seagulls to push towards finals. An unsettled line-up early in the year is now coming together and the impending inclusion of speed-demon Lukas Hoogenboom will give them an intimidating edge over fellow finals aspirants.
So how has Hussey seen his own form this season?
“Pretty good, the conditions are batsman friendly playing on the synthetic but it’s been good to bat for a long time again,” he said.
“It’s pretty competitive… you can see that from how tight the ladder is, there’s a few teams in there with a chance.”
Having said that he has identified a stand-out contender.
“Cardinia are the team to beat, Doigy’s (Dwayne Doig) a good bowler but their whole attack is hard to score against, they’re a strong team, someone always stands up,” he said.
Tom Hussey is certainly standing up for Tooradin so far this season.
