Captain Cameo is short on delivery
First Test: Hussain's half-century adorns the day but, like his troubled side, is a long way from changing the game
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Your support makes all the difference.When Nasser Hussain is fast asleep and his subconscious searches his memory files for the Saturday of a Lord's Test, most of what it recovers will be nightmares. Yesterday was no different. He did not break a bone as he did last year against Pakistan and in 1999 against New Zealand, and he scored 57 runs himself. The nightmare was not even of his own making, unless it was inspired by the team he and Duncan Fletcher had picked, but a third Lord's Saturday will be filed as another bad dream.
Yesterday Hussain could not afford to fail. When Mark Butcher was caught at third slip England were 43 for 2, still a forbidding 512 behind Sri Lanka on first innings. So much have England's expectations altered since this game began that a first-innings score of 356 to save the follow-on would have been regarded as a good result. The assumption was that if England were asked to bat again the worm of doubt would have done its business. So it has, and England are the likely losers of a game they had confidently expected to win.
A good score for Hussain was also necessary to shore up a reputation that has sunk somewhat since its high-water mark in India last winter, when he was acclaimed as England's best skipper since Mike Brearley. This was based on his character rather than his results, which have been from poor to middling since that surprising series victory in Sri Lanka 14 months ago. Perhaps this was on his mind when he came in to bat towards midday, because he made a hesitant start. The cloud was low and the outfield still damp but there was a decent, attentive crowd waiting to analyse Hussain's body language. To be frank, it did not inspire confidence. His first run came from an inside edge, which squirted out into the vacant leg-slip area.
His second run came from a hoick to fine leg, which was cut off at the boundary. The third was a hurried affair after an on-drive got caught up in bat and pad. The fourth was a sharp run after a prod to mid-on, and the fifth was a neat flick to fine leg. He was still there, but he had yet to give the impression of a confident occupation of the crease.
The complexion of the innings changed utterly in one over from Buddika Fernando. He is not the most threatening seamer to play at Lord's and Hussain treated him with lordly disdain in three balls, each of which went to the boundary, at third man, cover and mid- wicket. Having established the habit, he fed on it, driving straight, cutting late, cutting again and dissecting the two fielders placed to tempt him at fine leg. At lunch he was 38 and his last 32 runs had come from eight boundaries. England were 120 for 2 and feeling better.
Hussain seemed to have the measure of the bowling, for he went to 49 with two more fours and a three. His 50 came up when he neatly tucked away the ball to short fine-leg for his first single since he was five. There had been 10 fours in his innings, which had taken only 59 balls. He and Michael Vaughan played on through a light shower, and the century partnership came up with another Hussain boundary, steered through the slips.
But, as we know, cricket is a funny old game, and fate reminded Hussain that he is mortal. He reached forward outside the off stump to a ball from Nuwan Zoysa that caught the outside edge of his bat. Kumar Sangakkara took a good diving catch in front of first slip. Hussain was gone for 57, having batted a little less than two hours. England were 149 for 3, and it was not enough. Not nearly enough, as it turned out.
For Nasser it was his 22nd Test half-century and his eighth in his last 10 Tests, during which he has scored 771 runs in 19 innings at an average a little over 40. It is a decent set of figures, but they do not add up to a performance that will dispel the new doubters. Only one of these innings could be said to have decided a Test, and that was his century in the First Test against New Zealand.
In the end a captain's reputation depends on results. Brearley may have been lucky, but he got results.
Nasser Hussain's luck has not been improved by the performances of his colleagues, especially yesterday when his thirtysomethings let him down. He might remember that his reputation as a leader will eventually depend on the inheritance he leaves. Some of the players who have failed him so far in this Test will not help it one bit.
"Today was a huge disappointment for everyone," said John Crawley at the end of play. Picking up the pieces is a severe test of Hussain's character. Time to bring on the new boys, surely.
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