With 213 Twenty20 matches to his name, Brad Hodge is a batting doyen of the format.
But until Thursday morning’s (AEDT) clash with South Africa in Durban, Hodge had never won a T20 contest for Australia.
Brad Haddin, the man standing down the other end as Hodge lashed consecutive sixes in the final over of the five-wicket win, was impressed but not surprised.
“I don’t think it’s a shock to anyone. He’s been doing that for a long time now,” Haddin said.
Haddin suggested Hodge, who he played alongside in the inaugural T20 World Cup in 2007, deserved every bit of praise forthcoming for his man-of-the-match display.
“It was good seeing him back in the Australian colours and he deserved that tonight,” Haddin said of Hodge, who scored a mountain of T20 runs to force a recall from national selectors at age 39.
“He deserved to whack a couple over the rope and win man of the match.
“Tonight was good … he just brings a calmness to the dressing room.”
Aaron Finch noted former Victoria teammate Hodge added many elements to the squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup in Bangladesh, but above all cricket nous.
“His experience and knowledge of how to make runs and chase totals, it’s going to be invaluable,” Finch told AAP.
“What he’s done is sat down and chatted with everyone, just talked cricket.
“Different ways of how he goes about things, some things he finds difficult in a game and other things he finds comfortable
“When you pick that apart, there’s bits that everyone can take. Whether it’s me opening the batting or someone like Glenn Maxwell in the middle order.”