Hussain: 'Sri Lanka is the toughest challenge'

Nasser Hussain anticipates a tough challenge © Getty

For the first time since England arrived in Sri Lanka two weeks ago, the rains failed to materialise yesterday afternoon. The irony was not lost on the England camp, who had looked on forlornly as the one-day series died the wateriest of deaths on Sunday. Instead, as attention shifted towards the first-class leg of the tour - which begins with tomorrow's warm-up match against the Board President's XI - Colombo was being basted in the sort of ferocious heat that England encountered on their previous visit in 2001.

England's 2-1 victory on that trip is widely regarded as the pinnacle of Nasser Hussain's four-year tenure as captain, and though he is back in the ranks this time around, he was on hand yesterday to remind everyone just how tough the next month is going to be. "This is the most difficult place in the world to play cricket," he said. "It is harder even than taking on Australia in Australia. The wickets are different to anywhere else in the world. The outfields are slow and, with the heat, you have to work hard for your runs."

Hussain is keenly aware that this is not his show any more, and he was at pains to stress than Michael Vaughan is his own man as captain. Nevertheless, it would be a surprise if England chose to deviate from their tried and trusted game-plan on the subcontinent. "My idea was always to stay in the game," explained Hussain. "To still be in there on days three and four, when the pressure then shifts to the opposition. Whether it's the crowds or the expectation that they ought to have beaten us already, they seem to feel the pressure more if you hang on to the end. All our victories came right at the death."

England's top five are all familiar with the subcontinent, while Andrew Flintoff is a more rounded player of spin than the man who scraped 26 runs in five innings in India two years ago. But Hussain, who has returned from a three-week break after missing the one-dayers, warned that no amount of preparation can make up for time in the middle against the greatest bowler in the world today, Muttiah Muralitharan.

"It's a lovely game for Murali," said Hussain. "He's got that touch of genius, and a wicket is always somewhere around the corner. The rest of us have to work at our games. With him, it is never a matter of demolishing his bowling - it's more a case of keeping him out. If he is going to take five wickets in a innings, make sure those are spread over 50 or 60 overs."

"I don't think there's any harder job in world cricket, than when you first go out to bat in Sri Lanka, when Murali's got men around the bat, with the ball spitting both ways out of the footholes. Every wicket out here is different so it's a case of learning on your feet. As far as preparation goes, all you can really do is visualise your innings - decide what shots you can and can't play - because the angles he achieves with his offspinners are unique."

If England had it tough in 2001, they were at least a team at the peak of their powers in the bowling department. This time around, however, Darren Gough, Andrew Caddick, and even that subcontinent specialist, Craig White, are all missing. "Those guys had a lot of experience," said Hussain. "They could change their game-plans in a session. In the first Test at Galle, for instance, they came out after lunch and were bowling offcutters. This time we've got a lot of inexperience in our team, and you can't win a Test unless you take 20 wickets."

It will take a repeat performance of the 2001 victory to wrench public attention away from England's rugby heroes, something of which Hussain was wistfully aware. "It was obviously a great feeling watching that final, but at the same time I couldn't help wishing we had done the same in our own World Cup. I've always felt the country are right behind us wherever we've played, and what hurts the most is thinking that you've let people down. We would do anything to have that feeling of going home as heroes.

"It is a lesson to us all," added Hussain. "If you put all your plans in place, if you get a great coach in Clive Woodward, and a superstar in Jonny Wilkinson, a good side can become a great one. Cricket, football, it can happen to all of them. From what I've read, we got plenty of credit for our victory in Sri Lanka last time. But there are two things that are permanently etched in people's memories, World Cups and Australia. The rugby boys were very fortunate - they nailed them both in one afternoon!

"Those are the two things that I didn't put right as a captain. Now it's up to someone else to do so."