da poker： COLOMBO – Australia has gifted England an Ashes leverage point byleaving Steve and Mark Waugh out of the one-day cricket side, accordingto England captain Nasser Hussain.
Michael Donaldson22-Sep-2002COLOMBO – Australia has gifted England an Ashes leverage point byleaving Steve and Mark Waugh out of the one-day cricket side, accordingto England captain Nasser Hussain.Hussain, in Colombo for the Champions Trophy, suggested the Waugh twins’places in the Australian Test team were tenuous – something the Englishcould exploit.The England skipper said he was dubious when he first heard the veteranpair had been left out of the Australian one-day team but could now seethe logic to it.”When I first heard it, I thought ‘that’s a bit harsh … it sounds abit early’,” Hussain said.”But then I came over here and saw the Australian one-day squad and theyall looked a young, athletic, fresh sort of side and I thought ‘it’s nota bad idea, they’re going to be a good side for a little while yet andit probably was a decent move’.”As a result he sees the brothers under a little bit of pressure to holddown their Test spots.”With the Test side … to be honest, we’ve got enough problems of ourown without worrying about the Australia side,” he said.”But whoever we come up against we have to believe that the nightbefore, or the day of, the game they’ll be nervous.”Whether it be the Waugh brothers or whoever’s taking their place.”At least there’s something to work on there now, the Australians havegiven us that.”If [the Waugh brothers] play they’ll be under a little bit of pressurebecause some people will be saying why have we gone back to the Waughbrothers.”Or, with whoever comes, if it’s a younger lad, he’s going to be under abit of pressure because he’s taking Mark or Steve Waugh’s place.”Hussain also believes the English will be better equipped to deal withShane Warne this summer thanks to the coaching of Duncan Fletcher.”We’ve had good success playing against Harbhajan Singh and AnilKumble,” he said.”It will be our greatest challenge because our record against Warne ispoor.”But there’s no reason, if we’ve played Harbhajan and Kumble so well,that we can’t go over and play Warne well.”The main difference Duncan Fletcher’s made is technically, hisunderstanding of batting.”Biomechanically, where people pick up their bat, where they’re going tohit the ball, playing of spin and angles, where you can sweep and whereyou can’t sweep.”He understands, more than any coach I’ve been associated with, theactual mechanics of the game of cricket.”That has really helped our game.”