Cricinfo - Players and Officials

Full name Bradley John Hodge
Born December 29, 1974, Sandringham, Victoria
Current age 33 years 289 days
Major teams Australia, Durham, Kolkata Knight Riders, Lancashire, Leicestershire, Victoria
Nickname Hodgey, Dodgeball
Playing role Higher middle order batsman
Batting style Right-hand bat
Bowling style Right-arm offbreak
Height 1.78 m

Batting and fielding averages

Mat

Inns

Runs

Ave

100

Tests

503

203*

55.88

965

52.12

ODIs

575

123

30.26

657

87.51

T20Is

31.33

122.07

First-class

211

370

16005

302*

48.06

123

List A

215

205

7424

164

41.47

Twenty20

1661

106

39.54

1198

138.64

187

Bowling averages

Mat

Inns

Balls

Runs

Wkts

BBI

BBM

Ave

Econ

Tests

4.00

ODIs

1/17

51.00

4.63

66.0

T20Is

10.00

First-class

211

5175

2881

4/17

40.01

3.34

71.8

List A

215

1512

1327

5/28

34.92

5.26

39.7

Twenty20

396

500

4/17

20.83

7.57

16.5

Career statistics

Test debut

Australia v West Indies at Hobart, Nov 17-21, 2005 scorecard

Last Test

West Indies v Australia at Kingston, May 22-26, 2008 scorecard

Test statistics

ODI debut

New Zealand v Australia at Auckland, Dec 3, 2005 scorecard

Last ODI

India v Australia at Mumbai, Oct 17, 2007 scorecard

ODI statistics

T20I debut

Australia v Zimbabwe at Cape Town, Sep 12, 2007 scorecard

Last T20I

Australia v India at Melbourne, Feb 1, 2008 scorecard

T20I statistics

First-class debut

1993/94

Last First-class

West Indies v Australia at Kingston, May 22-26, 2008 scorecard

List A debut

1993/94

Last List A

South Australia v Victoria at Adelaide, Oct 12, 2008 scorecard

Twenty20 debut

Leicestershire v Yorkshire at Leicester, Jun 16, 2003 scorecard

Last Twenty20

Kolkata Knight Riders v Bangalore Royal Challengers at Kolkata, May 8, 2008 scorecard

Brad Hodge is still pushing hard to avoid becoming an Australian cricket nearly man. When he was dropped with an average of 58.42 only five matches into his Test career in 2005-06 it would have been easy for him to disappear back into the first-class ranks he has dominated for most of his career. "Don't worry, I'll be back," was Hodge's response. He was right, even if it took more than two years.

In 2006-07 he smashed 765 Pura Cup runs at 85.00 to force himself into the one-day side when Ricky Ponting rested, but two failures put him in danger of immediate demotion until Andrew Symonds suffered an arm injury. His unfortunate streak remained only in that he was stranded on 99 not out when he hit the winning runs against New Zealand and was then one hefty shot out of reach when he posted an unbeaten 97 in the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy. The performances earned him a spot at the World Cup and he finally grabbed three figures with 123 off 89 balls against the Netherlands. It was his last bat in the tournament and he watched the final from the dressing room, which has become an all-too familiar viewing platform.

Hodge was Australia's unluckiest casualty of the 2005-06 season of batting change. Picked for his first Test in November after being the reserve on tours to India, New Zealand and England, he opened with a fluent 60 and by the end of the home summer had 409 runs at an envious average. Still it wasn't enough to earn a spot on the South Africa trip as the selectors returned to Damien Martyn and Michael Clarke. Included in his five outings was an unbeaten 203 against South Africa in Perth, where he joined his boyhood idol Dean Jones as one of five Australians to make their maiden century a double. Two Tests later, Hodge, a tiny right-hander who is more quiet and laid back than Jones, was dropped amid whispers of a technical flaw against fast bowling, a short drought in the Pura Cup and a selection "judgment call".

He picked himself up with a century in the domestic final loss to Queensland, but was again overlooked for the Bangladesh series and had a winter assignment with Lancashire. Staying on the fringes for the next couple of years, he was called into the squad as a shadow player for the 2008 West Indies tour when Clarke was a late arrival due to a family death. Expected to stay a week and return to the Indian Premier League, he won a Test recall when Matthew Hayden was injured.

A regular and consistent performer for his state and counties, Hodge's Victorian debut came in 1993-94 as an 18-year-old and he almost compiled 1000 runs in the season as he settled quickly at No. 4. The following years were more difficult, but he returned from the dips as a more complete player, carrying a classical technique and the ability to direct shots to all parts of the ground. Around consistently impressive one-day returns, Hodge passed the 1000 barrier in the 2000-01 first-class summer when he was a key player in the Bushrangers' march to a second successive Pura Cup final. More of the same output was revealed in 2001-02, when he shared the domestic Player-of-the-Season award with Queensland's Jimmy Maher, and his consistency pushed him towards international honours.

After a brief spell with Durham in 2002, Hodge spent two productive summers at Leicestershire, leading them to a domestic one-day trophy in 2004 and making the county's highest individual score of 302 not out against Nottinghamshire the season before, but moved to Lancashire in 2005. Rewarded with his first Cricket Australia contract in 2004, he was picked for the India tour and considered for the opening Test, but narrowly missed a place taken spectacularly by Clarke.
Cricinfo staff May 2008