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The longest day dawns for Hussain

Stephen Brenkley
Sunday 02 March 2003 01:00 GMT
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Whatever happens to England today – and it would be wise not to stock up on bunting – Nasser Hussain should be remembered always for giving it everything. There has been a steady stream of gossip all winter about Hussain's approach to the captaincy and the treatment of his players. Occasionally, he has given a public sighting of the toll that it has taken, his heart almost visible on his sleeve. At various times, he has been angry, arrogant, proud, honest. Once or twice he has looked nearly broken. But his passion has been constant.

He cares so much about his job that it hurts. It is fair to say that not everybody in the England dressing room thinks he is a sweetheart but nobody would argue about his right to lead them on to the field.

He will do so probably for the last time (at least in a one-day international) at Port Elizabeth today. Waiting for him out there will be Australia, the best side in the world, who have made his life so wretched and so miserable lately. Australia are attempting to earn their 14th consecutive win against England and their 12th in all one-day matches, which would break the West Indies' record.

It has been an increasingly comfortable sequence for Australia, much easier than 12 labours of Hercules. Today they should complete the capture of Cerberus in the Underworld, even though they will be without the injured Jason Gillespie.

They could also end any World Cup dreams that were beginning to form in Hussain's subconscious after the magnificent victory against Pakistan a week ago. Hussain is fully aware that this could be his last hurrah but in his passionate way he tried to deflect attention from it yesterday. "I have given it a lot of thought," he said. "There are lots of yeses and nos and things like that. I am captain of my country in the biggest game we have had for a while and everything else is irrelevant. This game is not about me, it's about England trying to qualify for the World Cup.

"You can't make any sort of decision like that when you're in the middle of a major tournament. It's about us going out there and putting pressure on Australia, simple as that." England could, of course, beat Australia. On several occasions during the run of 13 consecutive one-day defeats they have come close, at least three times they have thrown victory away, turning away from the winning post with no obstacle but the finishing tape to surmount.

As Ricky Ponting, Australia's captain, said, this had probably left scars. "We'd like to open them up." So the likelihood is that there will be no reversal of fortune. Everywhere you look, Australia have a better player than England in that position. It will take a mammoth effort of will and concentration. If it goes against them, England will not necessarily be coming home, such are the vagaries of the table. Even if they win they will not necessarily qualify. Were Zimbabwe to beat Pakistan on Tuesday England would be sent packing. If England lose, Pakistan will know exactly what they have to do.

Ah, Zimbabwe. Had England fulfilled their fixture in Harare and taken the expected four points they would not be in this fine mess now. But Hussain had no regrets. "The last few weeks have shown why we thought about the decision so long and so hard," he said. "It could cost us a place in the next round, but that does not take away from the fact that what we did and what the Board did was right.

"It was never really about the four points, it was mostly about what was right. The players were in a lose-lose situation. That's why agonised over it. That decision will be around for a long time, this tournament will be gone in a few weeks."

What Hussain touched on there was the fact that the repercussions of the Zimbabwe boycott have yet to be felt. It may not come in the form of further boycotts but it will take a delicate balancing act to avoid them. It will almost certainly lead to financial penalty on England. It is to be hoped that the players, now on around £200,000 a year each, will be willing to bear their share. Otherwise, their refusal will rightly be seen as extremely selfish.

Eight days ago when England were cavorting around the Newlands ground at Cape Town after beating Pakistan all seemed right with the world. They could understandably reject the prospect of reality intruding once more. England had played solid and inspired cricket.

The trouble was that on Wednesday in Durban they lost the toss and allowed that to determine the course of the game. But it would be much more pertinent to dwell on the bowling performance, especially of Andrew Caddick, who had no effective response to India's early onslaught.

At least one change is likely in England's side today. Ashley Giles will take the place of Ronnie Irani. Giles is not a great spinner, nor is he quite a genuine all-rounder but he is a professional cricketer's professional cricketer. Given the lack of obvious flair among limited resources, it is difficult to excuse England taking the field without him.

It is possible that Ian Blackwell, the other left-arm spinner might also play. Craig White would probably be the one to make way, but then he is the only bowler who has reverse swing as a natural part of his armoury.

To win, of course, England will have to achieve a substantial total, which will depend almost wholly on the top three. Yet of those, Marcus Trescothick is bringing a whole new meaning to the old phrase about a batsman not knowing where his next run is coming from. He looks dreadful, he must feel worse. Hussain gave him a generous vote of confidence yesterday (form being temporary and all that) and made it clear that they would continue to pick him as opener.

"If you go round messing about with orders, picking people and dropping them as we did in the old days then you're accentuating the problems of trying to make things work. People get enough chances to perform if you believe in them and I believe in this team."

But despite intermittent glories, England have still to learn to believe in themselves.

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