Mike Hussey returns to Australia's coaching staff for the Ashes and the 2027 World Cup

Mike Hussey has rejoined Australia's men's coaching staff as a consultant, on a brief that runs through next year's Ashes, the 2027 World Cup and the Los Angeles Olympics

Cricket Australia confirmed on Friday that Mike Hussey will return to the national set-up as a consultant coach, adding the former Test batter to head coach Andrew McDonald's staff for a run of assignments that stretches into 2028.

Hussey also takes a standing T20 advisor role covering campaign strategy, opposition insights, player scouting and performance, a remit set out by Cricket Australia's general manager of national teams, Ben Oliver.

"I am extremely excited about being a part of the team in a more formal and meaningful role in the coming years," Hussey said in a statement. "This team has achieved so much in recent times, to which I hope I can add value to the coaching and playing groups."

Straight into the England series

The first assignment is the five-match T20I series against England, which begins at the MCG on November 21 before moving to Gold Coast Stadium on November 24, the Gabba on November 27, the SCG on November 29 and Manuka Oval on December 2.

Hussey will also work with the squad through this summer's home Test series against New Zealand, the other fixture Cricket Australia named when it announced the appointment.

The ICC's account of the role has him across both white-ball series against England rather than the Twenty20 leg alone.

A brief that runs to 2028

The consultancy is pitched well beyond this summer. Hussey has been engaged for next year's Ashes and for the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2027, which South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia will co-host from October 2 to November 21 across a 14-team field.

His advisory work on Twenty20 cricket extends further still, through to the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles and the next men's T20 World Cup, which Australia and New Zealand are due to stage.

That horizon makes the appointment a succession-planning move as much as a tactical one, tying a single voice to three different campaigns.

What McDonald wants from him

McDonald, who has worked with Hussey before, said the returning coach "has been a highly valued part of our staff in the past and brings a considerable skill set".

The head coach added that "not only is his expertise as a player and coach across multiple formats, competitions, countries invaluable", but that "so are his qualities as a person".

A record built in the middle order

Hussey played 302 internationals for Australia across the three formats between 2005 and 2013, averaging above 51 in 79 Tests and scoring 19 Test centuries.

He was part of the side that won the 2007 ODI World Cup and of the 2006-07 Ashes whitewash, and his 60 not out from 24 balls against Pakistan in the 2010 T20 World Cup semi-final remains one of the format's more remembered finishes.

He retired from international cricket at the start of 2013 and from playing altogether in 2016.

Coaching miles in the franchise game

Hussey sat on Matthew Mott's England panel when that side won the 2022 T20 World Cup on Australian soil, and he has spent years as Chennai Super Kings' batting coach under Stephen Fleming.

He led Welsh Fire in this year's Hundred, and was linked with England's set-up again after Fleming's appointment as their Test coach before Cricket Australia moved for him.

Hussey's first day in the job arrives at the MCG on November 21, when Australia open the T20I series against England.