Hussain helps England to substantial lead in Perth

England captain Nasser Hussain ensured that his team enjoyed another good day at the WACA in Perth by recording the first century of the tour and taking his side to a first innings lead of 114 against Western Australia. Although the end of the innings was a disappointment with the last five wickets falling for only 15 runs, Andrew Caddick claimed a wicket when the home side batted again to leave them at 16 for one at the close of the second day.

The start of play was brought forward to make up for time lost to the weather on the first day, but the early start did not agree with Robert Key who was out before he could add to his overnight score of 33. The batsman did not necessarily agree with the decision, giving the impression the ball might have bounced before reaching Matt Nicholson in the gully off Brad Williams.

Marcus Trescothick was more circumspect in his approach than either he or Key had been on the first evening, but was within a boundary of his fifty when he edged Nicholson to third slip.

With the score standing at 94 for two at that point there was a chance there might have been a collapse, but Hussain and Mark Butcher saw to it that the attack made no immediate inroads. The pair put on 59 together as Butcher gained valuable time at the crease. He remained to face 84 balls before offering no stroke to a ball from Jo Angel just before lunch and he was out for 29.

John Crawley helped his captain add 79 for the fourth wicket before he played on to Stuart Karppinen for 45 and Alec Stewart reached 29 with six boundaries before driving Angel carelessly and was caught at second slip.

Next to go was Hussain who had batted with immense assurance to reach 117 from 220 balls in a stay of nearly five hours in the middle that will give great heart to both him and his team. His end came when he pushed forward to Nicholson with just a hint of tiredness to be caught behind.

The Australians make a point of targeting the opposition captain and, with this innings under his belt, Hussain will be under no illusions about the sort of reception he is likely to receive in Brisbane during the first Test. However, he is likely to feed off that as a sign of respect.

The rest of the England innings would have been more familiar to Australian spectators - including selector David Boon - as the last five wickets fell in the space of six overs as only 15 runs were added to the total. They all went to Nicholson who finished with six for 79. In this same fixture on the last Ashes tour, Nicholson grabbed the headlines with seven for 77. Hussain was captaining England on that occasion and scored 118 in the first innings.

Western Australia did not open with their captain, Justin Langer, who is nursing a stiff neck, in the second innings. Mike Hussey took his place but it was regular opener Scott Meuleman who lost his wicket in the seven overs before the close. He was lbw to Caddick as Western Australia finished the day still 98 runs behind.