Survival of the grittiest

Nasser Hussain and Mark Butcher already have their battle scars from this tour - in Butcher's case, real ones. Hussain said batting in the last Test was the toughest cricket he and England had come up against for a long time, and this evening's tricky little session was no different.

While the other two old pros Butcher and Graham Thorpe are happy to go with the flow, Hussain is desperate to go out on a high. That magic number of 100 Tests is now only seven matches away, and if all goes to plan, he should celebrate the century against West Indies in July. While his team-mates were swanning around in the dressing-room this morning, Hussain was out in the middle inspecting the pitch, standing at the crease and getting his eyes used to the surroundings. Again, while the rest were maybe finishing off their card games or completing another level on PlayStation, Hussain was out doing the same not long before he and Butcher resumed England's fight after the rain.

Hussain and Butcher added 46, but the runs weren't the issue, it was survival of the grittiest, and no-one does it better than Nasser. Butcher, as he did after a rain-break in Jamaica, lost his concentration and got away with it when Shivnarine Chanderpaul grassed a sitter. That could prove to be a costly miss if Butcher can make the most of it. England need to make up for lost time tomorrow, and his free-flowing frolics will be vital.

One batsman who couldn't make the most of his luck, though, was Marcus Trescothick. He had two lives, given not out incorrectly then dropped from consecutive balls, but an out-of-sorts swish made it three strikes and out. He certainly has been the quiet man of the tour so far, both on the pitch with his bat, and off it with his mouth. All media requests to speak have so far been flatly refused. England must be hoping he lets his bat do the talking.