Hussain calls for England to play it hard

Nasser Hussain has called for his side to show channelled aggression in the Test series against Pakistan. With just days to go before the series starts in Lahore, Hussain has spoken of the importance of achieving a balance between hard but fair cricket in the weeks to come.

"We must keep it in the realms of what is expected as international cricketers, but also play it hard out here," Hussain said. "I would expect that of the Pakistan team and I know in the first Test they will be playing it very hard.

"There won't be any niceties out there in the middle, they won't be saying `Welcome to Pakistan, Mr Hussain', there will be words exchanged and we'll play it hard."

In a coded reference to the incident between Caddick and an umpire in the Governor's XI game in Peshawar, Hussain explained how he wanted his bowlers to show the aggression and determination that Caddick so epitomises.

"I want my bowlers and my team to play it hard otherwise we will be rolled over not only this winter, but also next summer against Australia. I'm not having us lying down and saying it's not important because we're in Pakistan because it does matter and it is important."

The England camp is aware of the sensitivity of the tour. It is, as everyone knows, 13 years since England last contested a Test in Pakistan. Hussain is adamant that his side are not just in Pakistan on a public-relations exercise.

"We're not just out here on a peace mission. We're out here to win Test matches, not just to be nice because the Pakistan team will come straight at us on Wednesday morning.

"I'm not going to be telling every one of my team how to behave every second. They know what fires them up and I'm not going to make any broad statements about not saying anything to batsmen.

"If words are exchanged, people will react differently with someone like Michael Atherton shrugging his shoulders and laughing while someone else will say a few words back. That's how the game is played. This is a hard game played by men and we're going to play it very hard."

Hussain admitted his side have a few injury worries, but declared himself pleased with the outcome of the warm-up games, and the facilities his team have utilised.

"We're as ready as we can be. Some of the boys who have only come out for the Tests may have wanted another first class match but we've practised hard, trained hard and have been given good facilities. The rest is down to us. We have no complaints at all about what we've been given and how we've been treated. I'm pretty clear in my own mind what I want to do, but there are certain little things that need to be sorted out.

"The warm-up games are all about the balance of winning, getting confidence up in the team and giving people enough of a bowl and I think we just about got it right," Hussain said

"It would have been nice for us to have faced more spin, but that's the game on tours these days and it would have been nice for some of our bowlers and batsmen to have done more but we're as ready as we're going to be."