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AUSTRALIA may be forced to summon Mike Hussey from county cricket if they decide this week to end Matthew Hayden's Ashes tour. Hayden's exasperating run of form continued on Saturday when he fell for 26 off 41 balls in the fourth Test after being caught in the gully with a miscued edge off Andrew Flintoff.
He has now gone 30 innings and a year since the most recent of his 20 Test centuries, and has passed 50 just five times in that period.
His Ashes series has reaped him just 180 runs at 22.
Selector on duty Trevor Hohns will have to discuss with captain Ricky Ponting whether Hussey and perhaps Shane Watson should be recruited to the squad for the final Test at The Oval from September 8.
Hussey, who starred for Australia during the two one-day series which preceded the Tests, has carried his great form into the county championship where he has 982 runs at 75 including three centuries for Durham.
Hayden has a Test average of 51.31 and it is normally unthinkable for a batsmen with such a record to be discarded. But the numbers of more interest to the selectors will be the fact that he has averaged around 30 from his past 30 innings.
The selectors have been given permission to recruit players from outside the squad and already briefly called up paceman Stuart Clark when there were doubts about Glenn McGrath's fitness.
Reserve batsman Brad Hodge is not suited to opening. Hayden has had trouble negotiating the inswinging ball from opening bowler Matthew Hoggard who dismissed him leg before in the first innings of the current Test.
I fail to see how Shane Watson will help us win this match but f**king great news on Hussey. To know they are at least considering it is good stuff.