Ahmedabad, second Test, day 5
Saturday, December 15, 2001

Mike Brearley, when he captained England a generation ago, was once famously said to have gestured towards the sun, as if indicating that it should move a little squarer. Nasser Hussain hasn't tried that yet. Perhaps the Indian sun is just too stubborn.

Brearley led England against India in India only once, in the Jubilee Test of 1979-80, which England won; Hussain is yet to win a Test here. But as Brearley drifted weightlessly around the press box in the Sardar Patel stadium, growing ever greyer but with the trademark collar of his shirt still turned up, Hussain was being anointed in his place.

The Indian press have been full of praise for their prodigal son since his diplomatic mastery on England's arrival. While the bare bones of Sourav Ganguly get ritually picked to pieces, the praise for Hussain gets richer and richer - like the creamy sauces of Gujarati cuisine. "A Captain in Full Command" was the headline in yesterday's Times of India. "Nasser Hussain thinks like a grandmaster and leads like a general," wrote Bobilli Vijay Kumar. "Like a good chess player he is always a few moves ahead of the game."

Yet Hussain resembles not so much a chess player on the field, as one of the many street children skilfully flying kites in the gutters of Ahmedabad. He directs the field like he is guiding twine through his fingers - pulling someone finer, beckoning someone else squarer.

And then there are the hand signals - digits as flexible as the most experienced bookie at Kempton races. For such a dominant captain, he is surprisingly flexible about his own fielding position. There is no regimented stance like Mike Atherton or Mark Taylor, resplendent at slip. He hovers at short fine leg, mid-on, mid-off, leg slip directing operations. And, at least from 150 yards, there seems to be genuine negotiation with the bowlers. Richard Dawson, especially, got the field he demanded.

Hussain has no hesitation about making changes every ball. Flintoff was brought from second slip to short cover for one delivery of a Giles over. A man who in his younger days would march up to his elders and tell them exactly what they were doing wrong, cares not one jot about boring or frustrating the ferocious Gujarati crowd.

He's not too manly to show appreciation of a masterly delivery with a short sharp clap of the hands. Bad balls are treated rather less demonstratively. He adopts a Prince Philip pose, hands clasped snootily behind back; fours are greeted with a close examination of the studs of his right boot.

As the pitch revealed its true nature - deader than a graveyard - Hussain could barely contain his amazement that India weren't going for the runs. His field sometimes reflected that - Giles bowled over the wicket into the rough for much of his morning spell and there was a third man for Hoggard as early as the 28th over.

At drinks the team surround him like he is the school jock in the athletics club. Not quite with the adoring looks of the randy cheerleader, but with the admiration of the reserves called up because of injury. But that old Hussain arrogance has filtered away - Martyn Ball, substitute fielder, no Test caps, bit of a gut, proffers advice and is not promptly swatted away. The petulant adolescent has become a masterly man manager.

Tanya Aldred, our assistant editor, is covering the whole tour for Wisden.com.

More Roving Reporter
'The pitch undulated like the sea'

Everyone's just wild about Sachin

© Wisden CricInfo Ltd