Mike Hussey to captain Prime Minister's XI against England

Sydney, Nov 20 (IANS) Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott Thursday officially launched the Prime Minister’s XI which will play against England at the Manuka Oval here, where it was announced that former Australian cricketer Mike Hussey will captain the team.

The match will be played Jan 14, four days before England’s opening match of the Carlton Mid One-Day International (ODI) Tri Series.

Hussey played 79 Tests for Australia from 2005-2013 and 185 ODIs from 2004-2012.

In a stellar international career, Hussey made 6235 Test runs at a 51.52 average including 19 centuries, and 5442 ODI runs at an astonishing ODI average of 48.15.

“It’s a tremendous honour to be selected to captain the Prime Minister's XI,” said Hussey in a release.

“Having played in the Prime Minister’s XI before, I know how important this fixture is on the Australian cricketing calendar, and it is a great tradition. In the past two years Ricky Ponting and Brett Lee have been captains of the team, so it’s humbling to follow in the footsteps of two icons of Australian cricket.”

The rest of the team will also be selected by Cricket Australia's (CA) National Selection Panel (NSP) with inputs from the Prime Minister, and will be announced in the coming weeks.

Cricket Australia (CA) Chief Executive Officer James Sutherland said he was looking forward to the fixture and congratulated Hussey on the captaincy.

“Congratulations to Mike on his appointment as captain. He has been a fine ambassador for Australian cricket and I’ve no doubt he will lead the Prime Minister’s XI team with distinction,” Sutherland said.