Sport Today

Can there have ever been a more unexpected and rapid succession?  It
is inkeeping with Nasser Hussain's character that he would choose to
resign the England captaincy on his terms, rather than be forced out,
but if it happens in the middle of a series it is usually when the
series is lost - not after a the first game is drawn.  The fact that
he found it impossible to continue as captain without having absolute
authority over his players (as he saw it) says a lot about the man.
Contrast his emotional and intense style of leadership with that of
Steve Waugh, who has remained phlegmatic when he has been axed from
the one-day side, and dignified thoughout the whispering campaign
to hasten his retirement.  You could say that Waugh had an easier job
picking up his test team from a succesful ODI captain in the form of
Ricky Ponting, but Hussain had captained England to three consecutive
wins, and has won series home and away in a manner than no other recent
captain has.  There is no reason to believe that he couldn't carry on
as a credible captain for some time to come.

The most revealing thing he said when he resigned was 'I was not the
captain England needed *or wanted* on Thursday'.  This implies that
the atmosphere in the dressing room was very different to how it was
at the end of the Zimbabwe series.  Duncan Fletcher's comment that he
was looking forward to seeing how Vaughan coped with Test captaincy
must have given Hussain food for thought - had Waugh been in charge
he would have shrugged it off with a mental note to chide Fletcher
about it in the team room.  Hussain will certainly have brooded on it.

In the end, the experiment with two captains was an immediate failure
because of the nature of Hussain.  This is not to criticise him, any
failure has been on the part of the selectors who should have known
him better.  Hopefully he will talk to previous captains Atherton and
Stewart who have been demoted to the ranks and continued their careers,
and find a way to put this behind him and continue to score runs for
England.  Although I never fully bought into Hussain's captaincy, I've
always admired his ***y-mindedness and his determination.  Sometimes
that has been to England's detriment, when he insisted on continuing
in the ODI team at number three, and similarly refusing to drop down
the order in the test team despite an horrendous run of scores.  
Overall though, it's probably been positive for England, and for that
he deserves thanks.

--
Chris Weston    

Agreed.  However, Vaughan showed immediately that he has the leadership
skills necessary for the ODI job, and there was never much doubt that he
would be the Test skipper within 12 months or so.

IMHO what Vaughan particularly managed to do was get the best out of the
young bowling attack, especially Anderson.  Bowlers are a funny bunch (I
should know) and Vaughan immediately created a dressing room environment in
which they could thrive.

Also, Nassar may have been sensitive to the fact that when the legendary
"captain's innings" was required on Saturday, it was Vaughan who came up
with it.

I think this is far more about Vaughan showing himself to be ready sooner
than expected than Nassar accelerating his plans.

OTC, I think the "experiment" will prove to be a massive success.  This is
not about the failure of the two styles to blend - it is about Vaughan's
immediate success, on and off the field, which has allowed the inevitable
handover to happen more quickly.

Good on Nassar for realising this - and huge respect to his achievements
over the past four years.  He has brought a competitiveness and steel to the
England team that Vaughan is ideally placed to develop.  With Jones back
fit, and a bit more strength in the middle order this looks like a team that
can be world-beaters in a couple of years.

Yet he also said that he deliberately did not speak to Duncan Fletcher
about it yesterday until it was a done deal, because he knew that had
he talked to Fletcher, Fletcher would have done his damnedest to
persuade him to stay.

If Fletcher's remark was anything to do with Hussain's resignation, I
think it was only that it convinced Hussain that he didn't have to
carry on as captain because there was no-one else suitable and
available - his early-season interviews were effectively saying "I've
got to carry on because there's no-one else ready to take over", but
now there is, apparently. So it became a question solely of whether he
still wanted to do it, and on Thursday he discovered he no longer had
the heart to shout at his bowlers because they wouldn't stop bowling
both sides of the wicket, and probably felt that it wouldn't do any
good anyway.

Cheers,

Mike

You shouldn't say things like that, or you'll have Ann O'Sullivan and
Diogenes the *** calling you a loony.

Cheers,

Mike

I think what this does show is that Hussain's far more sensitive to media
criticism than we thought, especially when it comes from ex-England captains
who really ought to know better.  My impression is that he changed his style
due to constant criticism of it during the Ashes and subsequently hearing
how preferable Vaughan's "laidback" style is.  Last Thursday, he was caught
between a rock and a hard place - damned if he was true to his instincts and
equally damned if he let them get on with it.  My guess is he lost the
support of too many journalists with his response to reaching 100 in one of
the ODI's last summer, and he's struggling to cope with the constant flack
he's now receiving.

Cheers

David

Water off a duck's back for a loony like me !! lol

Did it in the Natwest Final against India.Certainly not he type of innings
with which you make a point.Earlier in the thread Chris wrote about how SRW
had handled the two captaincy issue.The basic difference between SRW and
Nasser Hussain is that SRW thinks he is good enough to play and captain both
the test and one-day sides(though he didn't succeed in his bid to play the
world cup).The thought process is what that matters most in cricket.I think
Nasser is now starting doubt his own ability.These self doubts tend to
increase with each failure.He probably feels he shouldn't be captaining when
he is not getting the runs.A century in Lords may cause him to think about
his decision.But I don't think he will admit that to anyone.
Aravind

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