Mike Hussey's run spree a painful reminder MIKE Hussey has caused heads to shake in wonder throughout his career, but lately they've been shaking in utter disbelief that he will not be part of Australia's Ashes campaign in July. Hussey certainly hasn't morphed into Mr Retirement since stunning the cricketing world by announcing the Sydney Test against Sri Lanka in January was to be his last. He bowed out in that match by actually lifting his Test average a smidgin with a farewell innings of 25 and an unbeaten 27 to leave Australians wanting more. And so that's what he gave them. More. Since the end of March, playing Sheffield Shield for Western Australia and Indian Premier League for the Super Kings, Hussey has strung together this modest sequence: 99 not out, 6, 96, 37, 20, 86no, 6, 65no, 40, 88, 45, 95 and, just to prove he is fallible, 5. Granted, all but the first four scores were in the helter-skelter of Twenty20 cricket, but Hussey has always been the busiest of batsmen at the crease and it seems to matter little what form of the game he plays - the runs still come. And the more he scores, the more painful it becomes that he will not be going to England as a member of the 16-strong Australian squad, though tantalisingly the chairman of selectors, John Inverarity, did confirm at the Champions Trophy team announcement in Brisbane this week there still was a possibility a 17th player would be added. Sadly, all indications are that the selectors are keeping a spot free for Pakistani spinner Fawad Ahmed - "a person of interest, very high interest," according to Inverarity - in the unlikely event of his citizenship materialising in the coming weeks. As for Mr Cricket, he's more like Mrs Robinson these days, or rather the famous baseballing legend in the Simon and Garfunkel classic from the 1960s: "Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio? The nation turns its lonely eyes to you. Imploring eyes in the case of WA coach Justin Langer, who refuses to give up hope that he might yet persuade Hussey to go around one more time for the Warriors next season. "You're probably thinking like I am: 'My god, why isn't he going on the Ashes?' " said Langer, when asked yesterday about Hussey's astonishing run-scoring of late. And my god, why won't he just sign up and have one or two years more for WA for us. As much as Langer wants to see Hussey back in the baggy green, he knows it won't happen. "He made that decision to retire from international cricket and he's not the sort of person who shoots from the hip," Langer said. He would have been thinking about that for a long time. The Warriors, however, might be a different matter. And Langer's deadline is a doozy. Hussey can have right up to the coin toss in WA's first Shield match next summer to make up his mind.