Hussain took over when England were at their lowest ebb, officially bottom of the rankings and gradually turned things around. He played things tough, negatively at times, like in the series in India which England lost narrowly and could easily have drawn in the early 2000s. Sunil Gavaskar was making headline news over here when he slated England's tactics in his Indian newspaper column. I think he said that England were trying to get test cricket done away with with their tactics! We employed similar tactics in the Pakistan away series when they sneaked a series victory in the near darkness at the end of the 3rd test. Hussain didn't care. He was building foundations, brick by brick. I think we cam home and beat the West Indies (with Lara, Walsh, Chanderpaul and Ambrose) and also won away in Sri Lanka. Not many teams do that apart from Aus with Warne in their ranks. Vaughan wouldn't have achieved what he did without the years under Hussain. Hussain was a bit of a sargeant major type captain and the younger players at the end of Hussain's reign responded better to Vaughan's softer, friendlier approach.

51_all_out, Harmy isn't the only bowler with pace we have, in fact he is generally only around the 85-88 mph range, with the odd 90 mph ball slipped in. What he does have is the height and bounce to unsettle batsmen, when he's in the mood, confident, pitch giving him assistance (though the current Worcester wicket is pretty dead!) etc. If he was picked for the first test he could turn up and bowl like the Lions-Aus game. Equally he could turn up and bowl at 78-80 mph like in NZ last year. I think 'Enigmatic' sums Harmy up!!!

Beecher / Rhaganoth - Ponting has scored one century in 21 test innings according to Bumble on Sky Sports this afternoon.

Kenobee, the Champions Trophy WAS in India in 2006. The West Indies won the previous one, probably September 2004.

Nah, I think the England lads are of on a Club 18-30 trip to Magaluf!

Prophet, eternally mis-matched Ashes? The Ashes has been in existence since the 19th century. The last few years are a mere blip. The tradition and history of the Ashes rises above mere statistics and the relative strengths of either side for any particular series (or series in a row!). If Pakistan and India prefer the series between those teams thats fine. I don't care about series not involving England other than to enjoy it as a neutral. Its natural. If South Africa fans rate their series with India or Australia thats great. Each to his own. The Ashes are the most historic series there is. You can't expect it to have no coverage, especially as its own competition is a ODI series between WI and India and later on a test series between WI and Bangladesh.

Peekay, you say England have "never won anything". I take it you are just talking about one day cricket then. We've never lost much sleep about one day cricket here despite the big crowds. Sure, we'd like to win one. It beats losing. Test Cricket is where its at. We've won quite a few of those over the years!

Regarding Day/Night tests, at this time of the year in England it goes dark at well past 10pm. On a sunny evening (don't snigger you non-English people) you could easily start a days play at 2pm, play a full day test cricket and not even need floodlights, pyjamas and different coloured balls. I think for places like Pakistan (when they get test cricket back) they only have 80 or 85 overs scheduled in a day due to there not being enough light for a full day's play. Perhaps they could wear coloured clothes and white balls and use the floodlights at the end of the day to avoid problems with floodlights and the red ball shadow etc.

madzulu, why do you dislike England so much? Its unhealthy. And your use of the term Pom is incorrect as you are not Australian!. Other than that I agree that to bat first with rain around and having dropped a batsman was a mistake. Mud Island? Having lived here for all my life I cant say I've seen much of it. Rain doesnt equal mud in the same way as sunshine doesn't equal desert. With global warming you'll be praying for more rain in a few years!

Heboric, the suporters that were booing did so because that is the type of fan T20 panders to. Simpletons that know nothing about the game. Shah was struggling to get the ball away but thats the way T20 goes sometimes if you lose early wickets, as India are finding as I type this. A lot of fans attracted to cricket by the "thrills and spills" of T20 think they are attending a firework display. Sit back and watch the explosions. They thought the blue touch paper had gone out.

I think albie said he was only 15 years old the other day. Perhaps we should cut him some slack.

Heboric, Its only baseball cricket. Paste that to your wall! Hee hee.

Rhaganoth, Malinga is NOT throwing. Malinga slings the ball with a straight arm. Its perfectly legal. Strange yes, illegal no. The angle of your arm is irrelevant. It is an exaggerated version of Jeff Thomson's action all those years ago. There is no law against slinging.

Shifter, if you have as many variations as Mendis has then you don't need to spin it much at all. Plus, as they highlighted on Sky Sports last night, he always goes for the stumps. Therefore the batsman cannot risk leaving it if he can't pick him. Very few batsmen have picked him so far so thats why he's been successful.