Cricket: Brearley influence on rival captains

By RICHARD BOOCK in Christchurch

Rival captains Nasser Hussain and Stephen Fleming have a few things in common as they approach the first test, not least their choice of cricketing literature.

Like Fleming, Hussain has been the guiding hand behind England's sudden improvement over the past year or so, fashioning an impressive record on the sub-continent and - in between broken bones - raising interest levels all over Blighty.

The man they used to call "Beaky" - on account of a honker which might have come from the same boxed-set as Andy Caddick's ears - Hussain is treated with more deference these days, but has still retained a strong nose for success.

Although his tenure as captain began in 1999 with two series defeats, at home to New Zealand and then in South Africa, he is credited with playing a major role in the subsequent revival of England, securing a 1-0 win in the two-match series against Zimbabwe and then the first home series victory over the West Indies since 1969.

Neither win was entirely unexpected, but the same could not be said for the events which followed in December at Karachi, when England became the first team to beat Pakistan at the National Stadium, winning a series there for the first time since Ted Dexter's side in 1961-62.

Soon after, Hussain led his side to a 2-1 series win in Sri Lanka, the first time England had come back from 0-1 down in a three-match series since 1888.

Since then, there has been the disappointment of the Ashes series at home and the predictable struggle in India, but it has not stopped commentators from labelling Hussain as the best England captain since Mike Brearley.

The only person who has publicly disputed this is Brearley himself, who modestly claims that Hussain is the best since his successor Keith Fletcher.

Whatever the pros and cons of that argument, it seems clear that Fleming and Hussain will go under the spotlight as two of the best strategists in the game when New Zealand and England lock horns in the first test next week.

Interestingly, both have strong links to Brearley and each has a copy of the former captain's (now psychoanalyst's) informative book The Art of Captaincy.

Or, at least, Fleming did before he realised that the Herald correspondent had more need of it than him, and sent it off in the mail forthwith.

As for Hussain, he received his copy before the start of the West Indies series in 2000, after former Middlesex player Simon Hughes took him out for dinner and lent him a book that he thought might be of interest.

In terms of the Brearley-Hussain comparison, there are difficulties in making an assessment as one era included world-class players such as Geoff Boycott, Ian Botham, David Gower and Bob Willis, and the other comprised players such as Chris Read and Aftab Habib.

For the record, Brearley led England in 31 tests, of which he won 18 and lost just four; Hussain's figures are 27 tests, 10 wins, nine defeats.

Brearley won seven of his nine series in charge, Hussain has won four out of nine.

However, to put Brearley's achievements in context, two of the series triumphs - 3-0 in 1977, 5-1 in 1978-79 - came against Packer-weakened Australian sides; three (2-0 v Pakistan and 3-0 v New Zealand, both in 1978, and 1-0 v India in 1979) were more or less predictable, and another (1-0 in India in 1979-80) was a great win but a one-off test.

And if you believe Brearley, who was not the type to blow his own trumpet, even the immortal 3-1 Ashes triumph in 1981 - commonly labelled Botham's Ashes because of the great player's feats - was largely due to "a series of enormous flukes."

In terms of Hussain's record, two of his four wins came at home to Zimbabwe and one of the weakest West Indies sides to tour England, and he was only the second England captain to lose at home to New Zealand.

However, he achieved what no captain had since Richie Benaud in 1959-60 when England won two series on the subcontinent in one season, and went a long way towards restoring some of his side's reputation.

Hussain has made the best of his limited resources, combining a ruthless streak with shrewd analysis and sound planning to provide his side with their best chance of success.

But with the test match looming on Wednesday, the question now is not so much who is the better out of Hussain and Brearley, but out of Hussain and Fleming.