A week in the life of the future England captain (27 June 1999)

27 June 1999

A week in the life of the future England captain

Paul Newman

The most significant week of Nasser Hussain's life began in unusual but highly enviable circumstances. Not many future England cricket captains are to be found sailing luxury yachts off Cowes on their day off. And not in the company of the man they were about to replace.

But this was no throwback to the days of amateurs and gentleman. Hussain and many of his England and Essex colleagues were the guests of the Royal Yacht Squadron, the most exclusive yacht club in the world, for a three-day sailing and cricket trip in aid of the new captain's benefit year. Poignantly, Alec Stewart was among the numerous cricketers who had travelled to the Isle of Wight to lend their support.

A week had passed since The Sunday Telegraph had revealed that Hussain was to be made England captain when the select band gathered last Sunday to begin the most prestigious event in the Essex captain's benefit calendar. Graham Thorpe, Hussain's closest friend in cricket, Dean Headley, Adam Hollioake, Robin Smith, John Stephenson, Mark Ealham, Andrew Symonds, Ronnie Irani, Mark Ilott, Peter Such and Paul Grayson were all there.

Then there were two highly relevant guests. First came Stewart who had just met up with David Graveney, the chairman of selectors, to discuss his future and was aware that both Hussain and Mark Ramprakash had been interviewed for the biggest post in English cricket by Graveney and Lord MacLaurin the previous Friday. He knew that interviews are not held unless there is a vacancy, yet he was big enough to honour his commitment to Hussain. The subject of the England captaincy was never mentioned between the two men, who have enjoyed a good relationship since making their Test debuts together nine years ago, for the duration of the trip.

Then there was Graham Gooch, who has held such a pivotal role in Hussain's career. It was Gooch who nurtured the precocious young batsman when he emerged at Essex, disciplining him twice for behavioural misdemeanours along the way, before introducing him to the England team in 1990 and bringing him back from exile in 1993.

Now it was Gooch the England selector who had agreed to pick up a cricket bat and use it in anger for the first time since his retirement two years ago in the benefit match that was to conclude the event for his devoted pupil. Gooch clearly knew what was to be in store for Hussain on Thursday but was not prepared to talk about it, even though the two men, who have become good friends, were both guests of Jamie Sheldon, the managing director of the GNI group, the city brokers who sponsored the trip, at his palatial Isle of Wight residence.

"I only discovered Goochie was staying at the same place as me when I bumped into him at breakfast," Hussain was to say during his speech at the black-tie ball at the Royal Yacht Squadron in reference to the size of the Sheldon abode. "I think he is in a room about four miles from mine."

The pair, in truth, had shared a glass of port late on Sunday night but talk of the England captaincy was strictly off-limits. No nods or winks from mentor to protege. Not even a hint. Gooch is too professional for that. The subject was, however, on everyone else's lips. "Do you know what's happening?" asked Thorpe who is now likely to gain the responsibility that he has long craved and which has always been denied him at Surrey.

Others, meanwhile, were happy to talk about the qualities of a man who has made a huge impression on his team-mates as Essex captain this season, but who has, before now, appeared to be too strong a personality for the establishment to put their trust in.

"He is the best professional I've ever played with," said Essex's Grayson. "He sets a great example in terms of his preparation and approach to the game and leads by world-class example. His tactics and man-management are very good and he's not afraid to upset the stronger personalities in our side when he has to make a big decision. He lets them stew for a day or two, if necessary, until they realise that he was right all along. He's a big player's man though. He'll always back his team if the flag's flying and I think the authorities will have to brace themselves for that."

By the time the party left the Isle of Wight on Tuesday to prepare for their various NatWest Trophy matches on Wednesday Hussain was beginning to ponder what the rest of the week had in store for him. He was still none the wiser as to whether he really was about to be promoted and had to put the whole business out of his mind while he prepared for Essex's trophy match against Northamptonshire, a game that was to end in disappointment for him when Essex were unable to defend 281.

It was after Hussain had been interviewed for Sky TV by David Gower on the Northampton balcony and concluded an inquest into the Essex performance that he finally got official notice that his life could be about to change. A message on his mobile phone from Brian Murgatroyd, the England and Wales Cricket Board's media relations officer, asked Hussain to ring Graveney, a call that was swiftly made from the Wantage Road car park. Graveney told Hussain that either he or Alec Stewart would be taking charge of England for the first Test against New Zealand at Edgbaston and that he would be given the selectors' verdict on Thursday morning.

A restless night followed before Hussain took himself off for breakfast to the village of Coggeshall before returning home to his cottage in Little Leighs, near Chelmsford, to take the call he had been waiting for, from Graveney, at 10.45am.

Hussain was sworn to secrecy until the official announcement at 5pm but was able to ring his father Joe, a hugely significant figure in his development, and then his wife Karen, a teacher, at school in Shenfield.

"Dad kept on saying 'are you sure? Is it definitely official?'," said Hussain. "When I assured him it was he gave me a list of who I should and should not pick, saying 'go for him, he's a real fighter' and things like that. Dad had basically picked the team already! But he was so proud. I could tell that."

It was apt that Joe, a first-class cricketer in his youth in Madras and now the manager of the Ilford Cricket School where a young Nasser first learnt his trade was the first to know. It was Hussain the elder who instilled the passion and determination that characterises his youngest son's approach to cricket; family qualities that saw Hussain senior somehow find the money to put his four children through Forest School, the best in the area. All of them have been successes in their respective fields.

A contented Joe Hussain then retired to the nearby Harvester pub in Beehive Lane, as is his wont, to celebrate alone, bursting to tell world that all the hard work, all the single-minded pursuit of excellence that had become an obsession throughout Nasser's life had paid the ultimate dividend. But he had to stay quiet at the behest of the ECB until the official announcement.

"You'd better put your phones on answerphone," Murgatroyd told Nasser, "In case the press call."

"When I turned them back on, the morning after the announcement, there were about 30 messages of congratulations, from team-mates, friends, and all sorts of others," said Hussain. "I would have been a bit miffed if, after all the precautions, I'd found just one message telling me my dry cleaning was ready."

Before that Hussain had taken himself off for a walk in the Essex countryside that surrounds his cottage, past the picturesque church opposite and through the many fields. "It was perfect," he said. "I was able to get my head round what I'd just been told and think things through. It dawned on me that I was now public property. When I got back home there was a lengthy fax waiting for me from my brother Abbas, who is a businessman based in Turkey, outlining all The Management techniques he had learnt and passing on stacks of advice. The bottom line was that I have to do it my way, a point also made by Mike Atherton when he sent me a fax the next day. That's the way it's got to be. Stand or fall, I'll always know I did it the way I wanted to."

A quiet meal with Karen at home followed on Thursday before a hectic Friday, beginning with a journey to Lord's - interrupted at an A12 service station by a cheery "you've got one hell of a job on mate, haven't you?" - from a passer-by, for two hours of meetings and an introduction to coach Duncan Fletcher before facing the media at noon. Among the first to congratulate Hussain there was Derek Pringle, an Essex colleague in his formative years and now poised with notebook as a cricket correspondent. Pringle's presence gave Hussain the opportunity to ease his nerves when asked about cricketers' workload. "As I'm sure Pring will tell you," replied Hussain. "Bowling's hard work, so we've got to look after them."

Media duties completed, Hussain was able to fulfil long-standing commitments to his benefit year at a clay pigeon shoot and a disco in the pavilion marquee at Chelmsford which turned into a celebration party for his closest friends. He slipped away early, however, for a 6am start yesterday en route to Taunton for a Channel 4 commitment and then a brief appearance at another benefit cricket match and then a rendezvous at the Hilton International hotel, opposite Lord's with his fellow selectors to pick the team for Thursday's first Test. Today will be spent quietly. Then it will really become busy.

Source :: Electronic Telegraph (https://www.telegraph.co.uk)