Dream must come true in reign of Hussain (27 June 1999)

27 June 1999

Dream must come true in reign of Hussain

Scyld Berry

IT is late August 2001, and the Oval is awash with cheering England supporters, just as it was in 1953 and 1926 when the Ashes were regained after equally long waits. England's captain, Nasser Hussain, is about to step forward to receive a replica of the famous urn, though before doing so he exchanges one more quick smile with Mike Atherton, who has batted through the final day of his final Test, fending off Glenn McGrath and padding away Stuart MacGill, to protect England's 2-1 lead.

The roar which greets Hussain as he holds the prize aloft is one of relief as well as joy, since England have lost their six previous Ashes series. But this time - lucky Hussain! - Australia are short of great cricketers to save them as both Steve and Mark Waugh have retired, aged 36, like Shane Warne shortly after the World Cup, and McGrath has been worn down by international and county cricket.

Such a vision has to be the objective in Test cricket as England set out under their new captain, and their new coach, Duncan Fletcher, when he joins in the autumn. The moment, if it should be fulfilled, is little more than two years away, and while an enormous amount of Tests and one-day internationals have to be played in the interim, regaining the Ashes is the measure by which English cricket and Hussain's captaincy will be judged.

To this end new England have to be less individually selfish and play for each other more than before - a point which Mike Gatting is known to think Hussain would have some difficulty in making, and hence voted against his succession. England have to celebrate their victories more, and be allowed to enjoy them (instead of being forced to turn out for their counties the next day), and grieve over their losses more too; they have to find an opening partnership in which both batsmen fire (it was either Alec Stewart or Atherton, very seldom both together); they have to develop a late order which does not disintegrate at the first invitation, unearth a match-winning spinner, and, above all, assemble an XI who have the stomach for a fight.

Hussain already seems to have more than Stewart of that component, luck, which is crucial for his own future. If Stewart had won the toss in Sydney, he might still be England's Test, if not one-day, captain. Hussain also has, for his first assignment, the easiest job in England's schedule, a home series against New Zealand, who have played 40 Tests in this country and won two. And the first of the four Tests is at Edgbaston, the venue which should most suit England's tall pace bowlers and where the crowd most gets behind England.

New Zealand, to be sure, are not so dour and limited as their image would have it. They have imbibed enough Australianness from their coach, Steve Rixon, to bat in a punchy bottom-handed style on flat wickets, and their bowling attack is comparable to England's. But on pitches which do a bit in either plane - where the ball bounces or moves sideways - their specialist batsmen lack technical finesse. The West Indian fast bowlers overwhelmed them in the World Cup at Southampton where they could hardly muster a sound back-foot defensive between them.

Nothing less, in other words, than victory by a margin of two Tests will do this summer: as Hussain declared in his mission statement, "we must start winning". But so pitiable/contemptible has England's recent record been that they have not won a series by more than one Test since 1985. Whenever they have gone ahead, often by rolling over New Zealand or India in the opening Test at home, they have sat on their snivelling little lead for fear of losing it and played out bore-draws.

To keep New Zealand down and carry on winning, therefore, is Hussain's second task if England are to acquire the habits that will win back the Ashes. Valuable as the exercise is of protecting a lead - and Hussain himself will set a fine example as one who never gives his wicket away - three subsequent draws at Lord's, Old Trafford and the Oval will not do. If you thought England's failure to qualify for the Super-Six phase of the World Cup was the mother of all anticlimaxes, a 1-0 result against New Zealand would be the father.

But England in the last 20 years have won one Test series abroad by a margin greater than a single match, and that was 2-0 in New Zealand in 1991-92. Sensing their opponents were vulnerable after Sir Richard Hadlee's retirement, England walked around like winners (or Australians) from the moment they arrived. New Zealand are the only country who have been traditionally overawed by England, especially so at the start of each series, and Fletcher is right to emphasise the importance of body language.

Another test of Hussain's captaincy will be whether he can find that match-winning spinner without whom England are doomed never to rise above mid-table. As the vice-captain, and a former leg-spinner himself, Hussain understood Phil Tufnell and his insecurities better than anyone else in the team, but not only sympathy will be required to make Tufnell into something more penetrative than a tidy, two-an-over container.

Last evening's selection meeting in London must have been one of the most open for years, as the choices were weighed between old faces and new ones to rekindle public interest, between the need to win and that to rebuild. And, as always, the crux was whether Stewart would open or keep wicket and bat at six.

If Stewart opens, room could be found for Aftab Habib at No 6, a fine allround strokeplayer if only a utility fielder; and for a new wicketkeeper, either Paul Nixon, if tough characters are wanted, or Chris Read, who will do the job for years to come. Alex Tudor, Dean Headley and Tufnell would probably follow, with Andy Caddick the reserve seamer.

If Stewart keeps wicket, room could be found for a new opening batsman in Michael Vaughan of Yorkshire, and for a new all-rounder in Graeme Swann, who could pitch his offbreaks in the rough. These youngsters are more likely to make a party of 13 of course than the final XI.

It may be in another way altogether that Hussain can help to bring about a longer term answer to England's lack of an attacking spinner. The World Cup did not generate interest in cricket among those sections of the British population who have always been apathetic towards it, but it did raise passions within the immigrant Asian community from whose ranks Hussain has come.

Pakistan send a veterans side of former Test players around the country to unearth, play against and coach what we can call vernacular talent. If England are ever to tap the cricket potential of the Asian communities in the provincial cities, an international XI of former veterans must do the same. Channel Four have a handsome budget to promote the game, and Hussain is the right captain at the right time for such an initiative.

Source :: Electronic Telegraph (https://www.telegraph.co.uk)