West Indies 149 & 334 Australia 406 & 78-1: County experience helped me cross Test boundary, says Hussey

"It's definitely helped my game a lot in that it's helped me to adapt to different conditions," said the left-handed opener, who has had stints with Gloucestershire, Northamptonshire and Durham over the past five seasons, during which he joined Wally Hammond and Graeme Hick as the only batsmen to score three triple centuries in the County Championship.

"You get a good volume of batting and a good volume of cricket over there," he added. "It helps you to learn about yourself and a lot about your game."

Hussey is one of a growing number of Australians signed by counties in recent years. His younger brother, David, is on Nottinghamshire's books.

An injury to the established opener Justin Langer gave Hussey the chance for his Test debut, aged 30, in the first Test against the West Indies in Brisbane. He followed two low scores there with 137 and 31 not out here in Hobart and has been retained for the final Test in Adelaide on Friday, even though Langer is fit and certain to return.

The West Indies captain Shivnarine Chanderpaul declared that all was not lost for his side, despite another heavy defeat. "We've seen positives from this game so, hopefully, we'll get tougher and better," he said. "Hopefully, we can take that into the next game."

He added that the displays of Dwayne Bravo and Denesh Ramdin had given the whole team a big boost. "They showed a lot of courage out there, it's a big lift for the rest of us," he said. "It's always good to see two young guys go out and produce."

Michael Clarke, the 24-year-old Australian "golden boy" who scored 151 on his debut against India a year ago, has been dropped after a string of low scores in the Ashes, the ICC Super Series and against the West Indies in the past month.

West Indies won toss

West Indies - first innings 149

Australia - first innings 406 (M E K Hussey 137, M L Hayden 110).

West Indies - second innings 334 (D J J Bravo 113).

Australia - second innings

M E K Hussey not out 31

M L Hayden c Sub b Gayle 46

*R T Ponting not out 0

Extras (nb1) 1

Total (for 1 wkt, 26.1 overs) 78

Fall: 1-77.

Did not bat: M J Clarke, B J Hodge, ÝA C Gilchrist, A Symonds, S K Warne, B Lee, G D McGrath, S C G MacGill.

Bowling: Edwards 5-1-16-0; D B Powell 7-1-21-0; Bravo 7-1-21-0; Gayle 6-2-16-1; Sarwan 1.1-0-4-0.

Australia won by nine wickets.

Umpires: Aleem Dar (Pak) and R E Koertzen (SA).

Australia squad (v West Indies, third Test, Adelaide, Friday) M L Hayden, J L Langer, R T Ponting (capt), M E K Hussey, B J Hodge, A Symonds, A C Gilchrist (wkt), S K Warne, B Lee, S C G MacGill, G D McGrath, N W Bracken.