Cricket: Hussain furthers case for inclusion - Essex Eagles 228- 9 England 229-7 England win by one run

World Cup warm-up: Thorpe shines for England in narrow victory as Essex captain shows his international class

NASSER HUSSAIN got his wish of glorious failure after taking his Essex Eagles to within two runs of beating England yesterday as a thrilling encounter went to the last ball. Needing 10 runs from the final over to overhaul England's 229, Essex took eight, their last man Peter Such failing to hit the three runs required to win from the final ball.

At the 30-over mark Essex appeared to be cruising the game at 127 for 1. But if Essex appeared to falter over their giant-killing opportunity once their captain was sixth man out for 82, another failure by England's openers has given the selection panel plenty to mull over before Friday's opening match against Sri Lanka.

The dilemma they need to resolve is whether they should stick with Alec Stewart and Nick Knight, who scored 18 and 7 respectively, or bring in Hussain, who yesterday opened for Essex at the behest of David Lloyd, the England coach. If there was a message to be read it is that loyalty only goes so far before performance has to justify it.

After losing to 500-1 outsiders Bangladesh by five runs on Saturday, few expected Essex to turn over England, who are quoted at 5-1. With eight wickets down they needed 10 runs to win off the last over bowled by Vince Wells.

To add piquancy to the situation, this was Wells's first over of the innings and one which after a wicket, a few scrambled runs and a no-ball (even though TV replays suggested the bowler did not overstep) left Peter Such, the last man, needing three off the last ball. A full toss was driven straight to extra-cover for a single and the hosts, needing to score 230, reached 228 for 9.

It was, as Hussain said afterwards, "just the kind of game England needed at this stage". Perhaps so, but as most other countries bar Kenya seem to be winning comfortably we shall know before too long whether this assertion holds water.

Perhaps Hussain was talking from experience. Certainly his own route to this World Cup has been a tortuous one. Not originally selected for the one-day series in Australia, his eventual presence was due to Graham Thorpe's early flight home with a bad back.

Having seemingly taken the chance to prove himself as a one-day player, his failure to see England home in the first of the finals against Australia saw him excluded when the World Cup squad was announced in March.

However, Michael Atherton's injured back gave Hussain another chance to put his case which, judging by yesterday's innings, has been eloquently stated - something England's regular openers failed to match on the day.

Winning the toss has become such a rarity for Stewart that batting was probably a knee-jerk reaction rather than a carefully researched decision. With Bangladesh having scored 263 on the same pitch the previous day, it was probably the right one, though the white ball moved about considerably early on.

Nick Knight, who if anything is in even worse form than his captain at the moment, edged Mark Ilott to Stuart Law at first slip. As in most sports it is confidence rather than ability that fuels recovery.

Graeme Hick was undone by a ball that seamed and bounced from Ashley Cowan. Law, again held the catch, this time at second slip and Hick departed not having troubled the scorers.

Stewart was looking more like his old self when Ilott produced a beauty that swung in and promptly left the batsman off the pitch. From 26 for 0 England found themselves 29 for 3 inside 10 overs.

With Andrew Flintoff lbw to Ronnie Irani before he could get going, Thorpe had to go about the reconstruction aided by a larger cast than usual. Undaunted by the fact his team were 59 for 4, the left-hander stuck to his usual game of punching the ball into the gaps and waiting for the Essex bowlers to err.

Waiting for the bad ball while Peter Such was on required a great deal of patience and Thorpe, whose 50 came off 93 balls, was made to work hard for his runs. When he finally went for 88, he and Mark Ealham, who is back to his combative best, added 67 as England took 74 from their last 10 overs. Later it was Ealham's second spell of 4 for 9, along with some indifferent batting by the home side, that wrenched the game from Essex's grasp.

Essex were only 40 for 1 at the 15-over stage before accelerating through Law. A miscue, however, as he tried to loft Ealham over mid-on, swung the impetus England's way and when Hussain skied to Thorpe at mid-wicket, a look of relief spread across the faces in the field.

Barry Hyam had other ideas and two fours off Adam Hollioake suddenly gave Essex a sniff. But for Such missing two balls of the final, it might have been the bouquet of fine champagne. A sobering thought for all those who have backed England to win this World Cup.