Hussain's legacy: a bloody-minded outlook

Few observers expected England to be able to resist Sri Lanka and Muttiah Muralitharan on the final day of the First Test. The pitch in Galle was turning slowly and wearing quickly, and the world's most prolific bowler was operating on it aided and abetted by some of the keenest close fielders around. The home side had won the past five Tests at the ground.

This combination amounted to a monstrous foe and a prescription for English defeat. Punditry was divided on the subject, but only in trying to determine whether the match would end before tea or shortly after it.

But what mattered was that England believed in themselves. The loss of early wickets forced them to change their strategy, but it did not, with one alarming exception, induce panic. Throughout the order they stuck dauntlessly to their task and assembled one of the epic rearguard actions.

This valiant draw on a spectacular ground beneath a fort on the south-west coast of Sri Lanka was worth 10 victories against the likes of Bangladesh. There was the feeling yesterday that England's winter had begun at last. The result and the determination needed to secure it already deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as Lord's 1953 and 1963, Georgetown 1968 and Old Trafford 1998. It was only the fourth time that England had earned a draw with just one wicket left.

With more than 20 overs remaining they were seven wickets down; that made them a mere three balls from defeat, which, with Murali in the opposition ranks, was a distinct prospect. It would be pushing it a bit to suggest they were all heroes, but this match showed that England are no pushovers under Michael Vaughan.

The new captain has not wasted the four years of Nasser Hussain's tenure. Hussain had instilled into his charges the need for resilience and resolve, the rewards that can be gained in Test cricket from patience and refusing to allow the opposition to dictate the course of the match.

Last summer at The Oval, England came back from a horrible position against South Africa to win the match and draw the series. This game was every bit as exciting a comeback. The toss is not everything in cricket, and bemoaning its loss is never to be encouraged. But on the Galle surface any team would want to bat first, and when Vaughan was denied that opportunity England were always likely to be up against it.

England went into the final day needing 319 to win, and the way they went about their early work suggested that they intended to go for the runs. This was not a mistake, but given the pace of the match it was stretching ambition.

The loss of their first three wickets meant that survival became their only option. Nobody except Andrew Flintoff was found wanting. Flintoff had already contributed hugely to the cause in this game, and while the shot which slid off the face of the bat towards point does not appear in the survival manuals, these were not the circumstances in which player of his attributes tends to flourish.

Vaughan talked rightly of character after the game and was particularly keen to praise Paul Collingwood. This was Collingwood's maiden Test and he will never have a tougher one - except maybe when he has to hang on for couple of hours in the decisive match to reclaim the Ashes.

The unfussy, solid fashion in which he went about his business, ignoring the fielders bunched around him, repelling Murali for over after over, staying calm, made it seem as though he did this every Saturday. "He has a tremendous amount of guts and I think he has a hell of a future in Test cricket," said Vaughan.

The captain and his fellow selectors now have to decide whether to retain Collingwood for the Second Test which begins in Kandy on Wednesday, or to recall Hussain, who withdrew with a fever on the morning this Test. Their choice comes down to a player with a hell of a future or one with a hell of a past.

Collingwood's effort might have been futile without the lower order. The tail did not fail. The shot that Gareth Batty executed after sterling resistance - a classic hoick - would have haunted him forever had England lost, but Ashley Giles saw it through. Giles deserved this. He has had a rotten time of it lately and his career has been written off ad nauseam. He took eight wickets in the match and he was still there at the end, when the light at last faded too much.

It was a tremendous outcome but it was not straightforward, and the dividing line is tenuous. No fewer than five leg- before decisions, including three in one over from Muralitharan, might easily have been given against England on another day by other umpires. And then, of course, we might have been musing on a feeble surrender.