Advice from Mike Hussey Helped Me Score 200 in Final Test: Jason Gillespie

Former Australia pacer Jason Gillespie said that he managed to score a double ton in his final Test largely thanks to some sound advice from Mike Hussey.

Gillespie had already notched up his hundred in that game against Bangladesh but Hussey's words of encouragement after a particularly bad shot ensured the pacer ended his Test career on a high.

"I was batting with Mike Hussey and I must’ve been in the 160s or 170s. I remember Shadadat Hossain came into bowl and I went to play a really big… like a terrible shot and it just missed my leg stump.

"Mike Hussey walked down the wicket and I sort of walked up tapping the wicket and he said ‘pull your head in Dizzy, there’s no better chance of getting a double-hundred in your whole career and this will never happen again. So don’t waste the opportunity.’

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"I was thinking ‘hang on Huss, I’m sure I can do this'. I’m walking back to my crease thinking I can do this again, but then reality set in by the time I got to the crease and was marking the center. I’m never going to be ever in this situation again in my life.

"So, I pulled my head in and took that advice from Mike and he was very early in his Test career. He made a very fine 180 and we put on over 300 in that partnership and yeah it was good advice; he sort of nursed me through, which was really good.

"He has already been there and done that in first-class cricket, so he was fantastic. But, yeah it was a wonderful experience and a great way to sign-off my career I suppose and I didn’t play a game for Australia again after that. But, it was really a nice way to finish my Test career."

Gillespie also spoke about how he knew his time in the national side was up, saying it felt right because he had been called up for that tour as a back-up and that he couldn't have picked a better way to end his career.

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"Nothing more than a feeling really. I sensed with Adam Gilchrist, who was usually the leader of the team song, allowed me to lead the team song and I reckon he sensed it as well. And a couple of other things too.

"I’d come on that tour as a replacement player - I wasn’t in the squad and got dropped back in 2005 in England after bowling poorly in the Ashes – and I had a summer playing for South Australia and got called up because there were a number of injuries and what not!

"It was the end of a long summer for Australia – they’d been to South Africa and they were coming to Bangladesh. It was a long period of cricket and there were some jaded bodies and a couple of bowlers needed to be looked after and a couple of injuries.

"So, I knew I was basically filling in and it was a nice way to go out. I took some wickets, scored some runs and got to lead the team song. We won the series and I couldn’t really ask for much more than that."