The sight of Brad Hodge smashing another century in the one-day match against Queensland this week gave the Australian selectors another not-so-subtle reminder of his sublime talents.

There are a few commentators who suggest the Victorian is the unluckiest player to ever have picked up a cricket bat. And that has nothing to do with his on field performances.

Ten days before he was even born, Hodge suffered a major blow as one RT Ponting was born. He would go on to be Australia's greatest batsman since Sir Donald Bradman, and Hodge would be left to look on, despite dominating at the level below.

Still, it is staggering that a man who has scored over 20,000 runs in domestic cricket in a career than has spanned nearly two decades has only played a combined total of 39 matches for his country across all three forms of the game.

His test career is over after just six matches. An unbeaten double century against South Africa in 2005 and an average of 55.88 gives an insight into what could have been.

However, just like Sachin Tendulkar, it seems Hodge has hit his best form in the shorter forms of the game at the ripe age of 35.

He has averaged a lazy 138.00 so far this season in the split-innings format, hitting three centuries from five matches.

He is one of the most sought-after Twenty20 players in the world, and has played domestic cricket in Australia, England, India and next month, New Zealand. He was bought at the intial Indian Premier League auction by the Kolkata Knight Riders in 2008, and backed up their decision by being the team's leading run-scorer in the second edition of cricket's toughest Twenty20 competition.

Hodge must surely be on the plane for the 2011 World Cup in the sub-continent. He is the most in-form batsman in Australia and has already shown he is a master on the slow, turning pitches of India.

Regardless of whether Hodge is picked in that side or not, he will still have an argument to lay claim to being the unluckiest player of recent memory.

But perhaps he and the commentators shouldn't air their grievances so regularly.

Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love Hodge and have idolised him as a massive cricket fan growing up. I also fully believe he should have been a more regular figure in the Australian side.

But fact is, he got to fulfill every boyhood dream by becoming the 394th player to represent Australia in Test cricket.

Jealousy? Perhaps. But consider the case of James Hopes.

Hopes has played 84 one-day internationals for Australia since making his debut against New Zealand in 2005, and yet he is still and seems unlikely to ever be rewarded with a Test cap.

Hopes has spent much of his career as the third choice all-rounder at Queensland behind Andrew Symonds and Shane Watson, so this isn't suggesting he is just as unlucky as Hodge, rather it simply highlights the nuances of international sport.

And in many ways it highlights the strength of Australian cricket over the past two decades, where Hodge, Mike Hussey, Simon Katich, Darren Lehmann, Justin Langer, Damien Martyn and Matthew Hayden all had to bide their time at the domestic level before duly earning a permanent position in the national side.

So perhaps Hodge was affected by an unfortunate birth date, but fact is he is not the most unlucky Australian cricketer of the past 30 years.

That honour goes to Jamie Siddons, who will likely be remembered as one of the greatest domestic players in history to never be awarded a Test cap.

Siddons scored 12,000 runs in 160 matches for South Australia and Victoria, but was only ever rewarded with a solitary one-day cap in 1988 against Pakistan. Unfortunate timing, injury, illness and mental toughness are all said to be reasons for his lack of international experience.

And the luckiest player? Shaun Young who happened to be in the right place at the right time when injury struck the Australian test team in 1997, and he just happened to be playing County Cricket at the time. Young batted at eight in that Test, making a duck and four and bowled a combined total of eight overs for both innings.

Or perhaps Luke Pomersbach, who was plucked from the WACA crowd for a Twenty20 to replace Hodge who withdrew after injuring his back bending over to pull on his trousers.

Maybe Hodge broke a mirror early in his career.