Cricket: Tired Hussain hands over leadership

BIRMINGHAM - Nasser Hussain cited staleness as one of the reasons for resigning from the England captaincy after the drawn first test against South Africa yesterday.

He also argued that the team needed to have more fun under a new leader.

The decision was announced by England chairman of selectors David Graveney at a post-match media conference at Edgbaston.

Hussain will be replaced by Michael Vaughan, who had already taken over the one-day team from him and led England to victory in the recent triangular series against Zimbabwe and South Africa.

"I just feel it's time for a change," Hussain said. "Michael Vaughan has shown in the past few months that he is a very capable leader.

"I believe there are some young lads in there who will play under him, and the last thing they want is a tired leader.

"I have been thinking about it since the World Cup, to be honest. It's not a knee-jerk reaction, I've been thinking about it for a while."

Hussain, 35, stepped down as national one-day captain after the unsuccessful World Cup campaign in South Africa this year before leading England to a 2-0 series victory over Zimbabwe.

He conceded his decision had also been prompted by watching Vaughan captain the one-day side in his place during the triangular series.

"Vaughnie and the boys seemed to enjoy those one-dayers," he said. "My style of captaincy has been about aggression and I believe you have to give them a kick up the backside now and then.

"After seeing a young side enjoy themselves so much and have a different style of captain, it was very difficult on my first day back to try something different ... It had moved on a bit."

Hussain took over from Alec Stewart as captain in 1999, getting away to a bad start when his team lost a home series to New Zealand.

But he soon instilled his own grit and determination into the team, who recorded their first series victory over West Indies since 1969 as well as winning difficult away series in Sri Lanka and Pakistan.

That run of victories, Hussain said, would be one of his personal highlights. On the reverse side, there were also two heavy losses in Ashes series against Australia.

He captained England 45 times, with 17 wins, 15 defeats and 13 draws.

Hussain, who was named in an unchanged team for the second test at Lord's starting on Friday, said he wanted to continue playing test cricket.

"Basically, I just want to think about being a batsman ... picking my bat up and going out and batting.

"If I am good enough, I will stay in the England side. If not, someone else can do it."

South Africa's hopes of squeezing victory from the rain-blighted test were foiled by England and the weather as a tense encounter finally petered out into a grey draw.

Graeme Smith, who scored 277 in the first innings and 85 at faster than a run a ball in the second, asked his bowlers to exploit a deteriorating pitch after setting an improbable target of 321 from 65 overs.

But England held out as dark rain clouds gathered over Edgbaston.

They reached 110 for one, with Marcus Trescothick on 52 not out, before being forced from the field early after an previous interruption for bad light in the final session.

Trescothick, batting with a fractured finger, provided one of the few moments of defiance in the gloom by equalling the test record of five consecutive boundaries.

Two cuts, a pull and two straight drives were followed by a dot ball before Makhaya Ntini was taken off after conceding 31 in two overs.

Trescothick's feat had only been achieved only three times before, the last by David Hookes, of Australia, against Tony Greig and England in Melbourne 27 years ago.

Smith's dismissal left the 22-year-old left-hander with 999 runs in test cricket from 15 completed innings at an average of 66.6.

Vaughan, who kept England in the game with 156 in the first innings, missed out with 22 in the second.

England's delight in saving the first match of the five-test series will have been matched by South African frustration.

The Hussain file

Born: March 28, 1968, Madras.

Right-hand batsman.

Test debut: v West Indies, February 1990.

Test career: 84 matches, 4904 runs, average 36.59, 12 centuries with a highest score of 207.

Captain: 45 tests, winning 17, losing 15 and drawing 13. As captain, scored 2464 runs at 35.71.

ODI debut: v Pakistan, October 1989.

ODI career: 88 matches, 2332 runs, average 30.28, one century.

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