Nasser's shattered world

I've nothing to apologise for, says England captain on the brink of quitting

Nasser Hussain threatened to resign the England captaincy yesterday after denouncing cricket administrators in an emotionally charged news conference. Minutes after hearing that his side would be docked four points for failing to play their World Cup match against Zimbabwe in Harare, the captain said: "It still leaves me in isolation again and my trust of authorities today and for the last few weeks has left me low. It is only the players and the cricket that I am watching on television that have kept me going."

Hussain said he would "most definitely" think about his future and would give no guarantees of his intentions after the World Cup. But he sounded like a man tired of the world and his treatment in it. His voice trembled as he spoke.

The matter had reached a head not only because the International Cricket Council had made a decision on England's appeal about the Zimbabwe match after a six-hour hearing. They rejected the case, in effect discounting new concerns about safety. Shortly after, England, in the shape of the England and Wales Cricket Board chief executive Tim Lamb, decided to drop the matter and accept the loss of the match ­ which should have taken place last Thursday ­ but still maintained that they were right.

There was also the issue of what Hussain was supposed to have said to Malcolm Speed, the International Cricket Council chief executive, at a private meeting involving England's players nine days ago. It was reported that feelings, especially Hussain's, ran so high that Lamb and David Morgan, the ECB chairman, apologised to Speed, who confirmed this yesterday. But Hussain was not in an apologetic mood. "I have absolutely nothing to apologise for," he said. "At no stage was I rude. As England captain I just let him know he had let us down. They should have seen it coming six months ago, seen it snowballing. If I started thinking about the authorities and the way they have behaved I would be going round in circles." Hussain said he merely wanted now to concentrate on cricket.

Last night Richard Bevan, the players' representative from the Professional Cricketers' Association, also blamed the ICC. "They should have had a meeting last March when it was clear things were changing in Zimbabwe with their suspension from the Commonwealth, let alone actually do something."

If anybody thought that was that for politics (England play their first game today against Holland)‚ they were mistaken. New Zealand last night formally requested the ICC to switch their match against Kenya in Nairobi to South Africa for safety reasons.