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Nasser Hussain, the straight-talking cricket captain of England, managed to extract the very best out of a team with limitations. His name is being bracketed with that of England's most successful Test captain, Mike Brearley. — Reuters
So it has been a good time for Nasser Hussain recently. Australian batsman Mark Waugh, in his new biography, refers to him as having ``a bit of an Aussie attitude''. The English press, meanwhile, is increasingly bracketing his name with that of England's most successful Test captain. In time, his reputation — and this would have seemed impossible just three years ago — may even surpass that of Brearley. It was in 1999 that England, with Hussain as the new incumbent, lost its home series against New Zealand to slump to the bottom of Wisden's world Test rankings. Shortly afterwards Matthew Engel, Wisden's editor, retired hurt, opting for a sabbatical. ``It's become very wearing,'' he complained, blaming in part the burden of ``having to explain the continuing failures of English cricket.'' By 2000, however, the upturn had begun. Hussain had been a hot-blooded firebrand as a young player — simply ``cocky'', according to Waugh — but as a leader he gradually tempered the wild side while retaining the straight talk. Very quickly, he earned his team's respect. Zimbabwe was beaten before England recorded its first series win over the West Indies since 1969. An improbable victory followed in Pakistan — the first there for 38 years — before England triumphed in Sri Lanka, memorably coming back from 1-0 down in the three-match series. The results may have dipped since but there has only been one real cold bath, a 4-1 home hammering by Australia. For the rest of the time, Hussain, backed by coach Duncan Fletcher and a central contracts system already being hailed a significant success, has managed to extract the very best out of a team whose limitations he has always acknowledged but whose spirit and professionalism he has resolutely defended. Some of Hussain's cricket has not been pretty, for which he makes absolutely no apology. The England captain's ruthless aim was not to win friends but to staunch the flow of defeats, then gradually build up confidence with the odd win. Style and panache could go hang. True to form, England's snail-paced cricket in Pakistan probably proved successful because it sent the opposition to sleep. In Sri Lanka, Muttiah Muralitharan was nullified with the kicking pad. This year in India Hussain countered Sachin Tendulkar's superior skills by ordering left-arm spinner Ashley Giles to bowl a negative line well outside the leg stump. Even Brearley went into print to criticise the tactic. Sunil Gavaskar branded the touring side desperately boring. And a depleted, raw England outfit left India having dominated the last two Tests to almost snatch a series-levelling draw. Gavaskar was less vocal last month when England, having seen off the Sri Lankans, snatched the first Test from under Indian noses at Lord's. Again England, missing its top players through injury, had been cajoled by Hussain to play above itself. Again Tendulkar was outwitted as the English pace bowlers bowled wide to him, inviting an injudicious off-side slash and a lazy drive. Significantly, though, England is beginning to show signs of moving to 'stage two' of its revival. Increasingly it is going on the offensive, seeking to score more quickly in Australian mode and targetting the likes of Muttiah Muralitharan and Anil Kumble, spinners who for years have feasted on English timidity. At Lord's, Hussain repeatedly charged Kumble and hit him over the top on his way to his Man-of-the-Match century. In the final analysis, Hussain's success rate will never get close to Brearley's. The latter lost just four of his 31 Tests in charge. But the pair is hardly doing the same job to be immediately comparable. The 34-year-old Hussain is trying to rebuild a team from the most unpromising of beginnings after years of English decline. The avuncular, erudite Brearley had the good fortune to command such names as Botham, Willis, Boycott, Gooch and Gower. He was also helped statistically by avoiding the great West Indies sides of the late 1970s and early 80s, while Australia had been ravaged by defections to Kerry Packer's circus. And while Hussain's own batting has faced criticism over recent seasons — he is prone to open the face of the bat early in his innings and can lean back on the drive, while many do not see him as a number three — his record speaks for itself. After surviving a horror run which saw him average just 15 in 2000, he has hauled his Test average back over 37, through sheer willpower, bloody-mindedness and hard work on those insidious batting flaws. Brearley, while a prolific player at county level, averaged just under 23 and never scored a Test hundred. The Cambridge-educated Brearley's reputation as a great thinker and as Ian Botham's wise-owl mentor and motivator, particularly at Headingley in 1981, has long since entered English cricketing mythology. Hussain, more the street fighter, has some way to go yet but may well join him there. And if he doesn't, well, his critics can just go hang. — Reuters
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