diff --git a/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/item/database/HibernateCursorItemReader.java b/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/item/database/HibernateCursorItemReader.java
index a3f146420..7923ed88a 100644
--- a/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/item/database/HibernateCursorItemReader.java
+++ b/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/item/database/HibernateCursorItemReader.java
@@ -81,8 +81,11 @@ public class HibernateCursorItemReader extends ExecutionContextUserSupport imple
 		}
 		if (cursor.next()) {
 			currentProcessedRow++;
-			Object data = cursor.get(0);
-			return data;
+			Object[] data = cursor.get();
+			if (data.length>1) {
+				return data;
+			}
+			return data[0];
 		}
 		return null;
 	}
diff --git a/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/item/database/HibernateCursorProjectionItemReaderIntegrationTests.java b/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/item/database/HibernateCursorProjectionItemReaderIntegrationTests.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..bb8381370
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/item/database/HibernateCursorProjectionItemReaderIntegrationTests.java
@@ -0,0 +1,63 @@
+package org.springframework.batch.item.database;
+
+import org.hibernate.SessionFactory;
+import org.hibernate.StatelessSession;
+import org.springframework.batch.item.ExecutionContext;
+import org.springframework.batch.item.ItemReader;
+import org.springframework.beans.factory.InitializingBean;
+import org.springframework.core.io.ClassPathResource;
+import org.springframework.core.io.Resource;
+import org.springframework.orm.hibernate3.LocalSessionFactoryBean;
+import org.springframework.test.AbstractTransactionalDataSourceSpringContextTests;
+
+/**
+ * Tests for {@link HibernateCursorItemReader} using {@link StatelessSession}.
+ * 
+ * @author Robert Kasanicky
+ */
+public class HibernateCursorProjectionItemReaderIntegrationTests extends AbstractTransactionalDataSourceSpringContextTests {
+
+	protected ItemReader reader;
+	protected ExecutionContext executionContext;
+
+	protected String[] getConfigLocations() {
+		return new String[] { "org/springframework/batch/item/database/data-source-context.xml" };
+	}
+
+	/*
+	 * (non-Javadoc)
+	 * @see org.springframework.test.AbstractTransactionalSpringContextTests#onSetUpInTransaction()
+	 */
+	protected void onSetUpInTransaction() throws Exception {
+		super.onSetUpInTransaction();
+		reader = createItemReader();
+		executionContext = new ExecutionContext();
+	}
+
+	
+	protected ItemReader createItemReader() throws Exception {
+		LocalSessionFactoryBean factoryBean = new LocalSessionFactoryBean();
+		factoryBean.setDataSource(super.getJdbcTemplate().getDataSource());
+		factoryBean.setMappingLocations(new Resource[] { new ClassPathResource("Foo.hbm.xml", getClass()) });
+		factoryBean.afterPropertiesSet();
+
+		SessionFactory sessionFactory = (SessionFactory) factoryBean.getObject();
+
+		String hsqlQuery = "select f.value, f.name from Foo f";
+
+		HibernateCursorItemReader inputSource = new HibernateCursorItemReader();
+		inputSource.setQueryString(hsqlQuery);
+		inputSource.setSessionFactory(sessionFactory);
+		inputSource.afterPropertiesSet();
+		inputSource.setSaveState(true);
+
+		return inputSource;
+	}
+
+	public void testNormalProcessing() throws Exception {	
+		((InitializingBean) reader).afterPropertiesSet();
+		Object[] foo1 = (Object[]) reader.read();
+		assertEquals(new Integer(1), foo1[0]);
+	}
+
+}