AT THE start of the home summer, it would have been a brave punter who tipped Ricky Ponting, Mike Hussey and Brad Haddin to all still be boxing on at Test summer's end.
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But here they are, about to go into battle in the series finale against India, with none prepared to acknowledge an end in sight.
Hussey was left out of the Twenty20 squad yesterday, but national selector John Inverarity hastened to add that he had been rested, not dropped, and would return to the team in the West Indies, by which time he will not have represented Australia in the shortest format for almost 21 months.
The 36-year-old has indicated he has no intention of retiring from any form of the game in the foreseeable future and his ambition to compete at the ICC World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka in September is backed up by his enduring reputation as the team's best finisher.
Though he has amassed 253 career-saving runs at 84.33 in the India series, it remains to be seen whether the selectors will see the need for further regeneration of the Test middle order before then.
''Mike's being rested for this,'' Inverarity said of the Twenty20 internationals against India. ''Mike has had a pretty gruelling schedule of Test matches - Sri Lanka, South Africa, New Zealand and India.
''I had a chat with Mike in Perth about a week ago and we're looking to give him a little bit of a break here, and probably in the early stages of the ODIs so he comes back fresh.''
Ponting, 37, also eased the pressure with 134 at the SCG and Michael Clarke was emphatic in his answer when asked yesterday whether he thought he would be captaining Ponting for the last time in a Test in Adelaide.
''I don't think it will be,'' Clarke said. ''He's in really good form, I have seen 'Punter' bat for a long time now and he is hitting the ball very sweetly, so I think Ricky still has a lot of Test cricket left in him.''
Four years ago, Adam Gilchrist dropped a catch during the last Test of the summer against India in Adelaide and in that moment decided to retire.
His successor, Brad Haddin, who was supported by Clarke yesterday, wants to continue in the Test and one-day teams.
But with Victorian gloveman Matthew Wade beating hard against the dressing room door with 316 Sheffield Shield runs at 63 this season, Haddin, 34, is perhaps the most likely of the three veterans to receive a tap on the shoulder if he does not perform in Adelaide.
¦India's threshing machine Virender Sehwag paid the home side a mighty compliment yesterday, saying this was the best attack he had faced in his 20 Tests against Australia.
Sehwag, who will lead the tourists in the fourth Test after skipper M. S. Dhoni's ban for the team's slow over rate, is averaging under 20 in three Tests this summer.
The 95-Test veteran said tight bowling had been the key. ''They're bowling in good areas. They are not giving easy balls to hit boundaries and they are playing with real patience,'' said Sehwag, who has a career average of 50.93.
With aap
