Hussey backs North to deliver

No matter how far Michael Hussey goes in international cricket, there's always someone there to remind him of his roots at the Wanneroo District Cricket Club. His Perth grade side was also the home of Damien Martyn, who was part of the Test unit when Hussey broke into the squad, and of course his brother and ODI team-mate David Hussey played for the club in his younger days before moving to Victoria.

Now another link in the Wanneroo chain has emerged: Marcus North. If North makes his Test debut in Johannesburg on Thursday as expected, more than a quarter of the side will have links to Wanneroo. When Mitchell Johnson moved to Perth he also signed with the club, which was North's junior side before he moved on to the Bayswater team.

"We've known each other since I think we've been about 12 or 13 ," Hussey said of North. "It's quite nice really to think that two young kids from Wanneroo are able to hopefully play in a Test match together for Australia. It's quite a strange sort of feeling but really exciting as well."

Hussey has in the past captained North at Western Australia, where North himself is now the skipper. If he gets the nod following his strong performance in the tour match in Potchefstroom, North will add not only a strong batting presence at No. 6 but also a handy offspin option, a solid first slip fieldsman and a smart cricketing brain.

"I'm quite chuffed that Marcus is on the tour," Hussey said. "He's someone that's really performed very well for Western Australia, deserves his chance at this level, and just speaking to him, he seems very calm, very collected and he seems very comfortable with being around the team. I think that augurs well for him to perform well at Test match level."

One man who is guaranteed to make his Test debut at the Wanderers is the opener Phillip Hughes. Although he is only 20, Hughes has impressed everyone in the Australian squad not only with his outstanding ability with the bat but also with the way he has handled his rapid rise to the top.

"From what I saw up in Potch [he is a] very impressive young guy, really likeable young man around the group," Hussey said. "[He] just loves cricket and loves batting, so he'll fit into our team pretty well I think. The signs that we saw from him up in Potch are pretty exciting for the future as well."

Hughes and North are two of four uncapped players in Australia's 14-man squad, along with Ben Hilfenhaus and Bryce McGain. It makes for an inexperienced and unfamiliar-looking side but Hussey insisted all four men, along with the recently-capped Doug Bollinger and Andrew McDonald, were up to the task.

"They've got a big role to play in this team," Hussey said. "It's not a case of we're expecting less from the new guys. They're in the Australian cricket team so they're expected to do their jobs as well as the most senior guys in the team."