Nasser: 'I'm not taking the selfish road'

Captain rides the criticism and courts charges of arrogance as he emerges from the shadowlands in defiant mood

Anybody who assumed that Nasser Hussain was about to go quietly has been spending too much time in the jungle with Phil Tufnell. The England captain is reinvigorated to the point of being reborn. Zimbabwe had better watch out.

Gone is the pale shadow of a man who finished the team's long winter sojourn bent if not quite broken, emotionally and physically spent. In his place is an assured cricketer as gleaming as a new thigh pad and sure of his place in the scheme of things and the batting order.

"I still believe that come Lord's on Thursday week, England will be a better side in Test match cricket because I'm leading them out and no one else," he said. "I'm firm on that – if that's big-headed or selfish or whatever words are being used nowadays – England are better when I'm in charge.

"I've told the selectors – and this is not selfish – that if at any stage they believe Michael Vaughan or anyone else will do a better job or I'm not doing a particularly good job, then I will happily stand aside. That's a fact." His re-entry to the fray has been accompanied by a chorus of calls for his removal. Vaughan, newly installed as one -day captain, is the favourite but expect the Tufnell bandwagon to start rolling as soon as he gets back from the outback. Suddenly, it's anyone but Nasser. He no longer suits in some quarters and two former England captains, Ian Botham and Mike Gatting, have ladled on the opprobrium.

The incumbent was not about to indulge in a slanging match. Indeed he was anxious to avoid any such undignified spatting. But he spoke passionately about his ambitions, his twin desires to play 100 Tests and to break Michael Atherton's captaincy record of 54 (he stands at 81 and 42 respectively). These aims are what so put Gatting's nose further out of joint.

"They are my ambitions," said Hussain. "Everyone has ambitions. That's part of a professional sportsman whether you're captain or not. If I don't do it, I've already done far more than I ever thought I would do. And it's not a huge problem with me. If I don't do well this summer someone else will come in. I'd rather be like this, trying to fulfil my ambitions."

Nasser has been around long enough to know that he had better start planning for his future if England do not hammer Zimbabwe and defeat South Africa this summer. There would simply be no point. But he is not in the mood to apologise for continuing, leading the side for his 14th series.

"When you're captain you're in the hot environment of the kitchen and sometimes it gets very hot. That's the way it's been this week. It's part of leading your side, it's part of taking the difficult road sometimes. The easy option is for me to say 'no, Michael, Marcus or Adam, no, you do it all.' But I'm taking the difficult road, not taking the selfish road. I'm putting my neck on the line this summer because if we lose to Zimbabwe or South Africa it will be me the finger is pointed at."

England are overwhelming favourites to beat Zimbabwe 2-0 in the two-match series, which begins on 22 May. It has already been suggested that the Zimbabweans are the worst touring side ever to visit these shores. They have not looked like it so far and they will have to be on the extremes of awful to be as insipid as the New Zealanders of 1958.

But they are weak and inexperienced and England will be expected to show them how weak and inexperienced. The pre-judgement on the tourists' failings has led to calls for a new England. Where the players are to be found to establish this apparent nirvana is another matter.

Hussain, as enduring players do, urged caution. This is always a weakness in those who have played so much. Maybe Hussain has forgotten what it is like to be 22, to be desperate to play for England and to be called up as he was in early 1990. It is thus with every generation.

"Obviously, one or two people will come into the side. I don't think we are the sort of side who can throw people out willy-nilly, say 'you are a certain age now, we don't care how you are playing, we're going to get rid of you'. People have to really knock on the door before people like Stewart and Caddick are thrown out of sides. You can't accuse us of being stuck in our ways."

Hussain is no longer a selector but if that call is heeded the team for Lord's to be announced next Saturday will have a familiar ring. That means the 40-year-old Stewart will stay on, the oldest Test player in the world (well, someone has to be), and doubtless mock his detractors.

All the old pros around will tell you that Stewy is still the best and still wants to do it. He has a central contract to boot. No doubt, then, he will be in. But the move towards Chris Read or James Foster (in that order) surely cannot be resisted for long. Read is the future, with a chance one day of playing in an England team which wrests back the Ashes in 2005. That no longer holds good for Stewart.

If any of the batsmen are jettisoned it is likely to be John Crawley, who was not a failure in Australia last winter but nor was he a success. It is unfortunate that Crawley's career has not evolved as it should have but the time has come. The top five is then predictable if the selectors back their previous judgement and concur that Robert Key can still turn the lock in the international door. If not, Mark Wagh of Warwickshire is the name beginning to form imperfectly on many lips – do you pronounce the "g" or not? No, you do not.

James Anderson, who came from nowhere to play his first one-day game last December and now seems to have been around forever, will make his Test debut. He will support Caddick and Matthew Hoggard. The former is much maligned but still an estimable bowler whose services as a wise old greyhead will be needed; the latter can only pray that his tormented winter is behind him. And then there's still Stephen Harmison.

"I would say that the Test team, apart from a handful of matches against Australia, has been in pretty good shape for three or four years," said Hussain. "The batters have got runs, people have got wickets. If you take one side out of the equation we have played some good cricket. That's why people are starting with places cemented in the side."

So they have played some good cricket. None the less, Hussain's (and coach Duncan Fletcher's) England have won one series in the last seven. If they do not make it two in the past eight against Zimbabwe, they might as well call for Tuffers.