Hussain's slump continues

Nasser Hussain, on the verge of becoming the first captain to win a series over West Indies in 31 years, signed off for the season today with personal form hitting the bottom.

Hussain got the only "pair" in his fist class career consisting of 270 matches. However, his failure did not prevent his team gaining the upper hand on the third day of the final Test at the Oval with a lead of 212 runs and 8 wickets in hand. He has scored 148 runs at an average of 12.33 in his last 13 Test innings with the top score being 25. He is putting pressure on the team and himself by refusing to go down the order.

It may not be possible for him to regain form by playing counties as coach Fletcher has dictated that this will be the last match before the departure to Kenya. However, his plight has been consoled by the continuing performance of Craig White who took 5 for 32 to reduce West Indies to 125. Thereby the outcome of the Test and series swung one final time in England's favour.

When Cork and White came on to bowl, West Indies lost 5 wickets for 7 runs in 22 balls including Lara off the first ball to White. At lunch, the tourists were 86 for 8, only for Nixon Mclean to provide some resistance by making 29.

However the tourists responded well when they bowled a second time by removing Trescothick and out of form Hussain before bad light stopped play.