Sport 17-08-2000 Fourth Test: Hussain Must End Bad Form who: England cricket team what: Face West Indies in Fourth Test where: Headingley, LEEDS when: Today snippet: The Fourth Test begins at Headingley this morning with captain Nasser Hussain in the midst of "a dreadful run of form to rival that of any modern England captain," says David Hopps in The Guardian. Hussain, who has scored only 144 runs in 12 first-class innings this season, "has excelled in the dark arts of media manipulation," says Michael Henderson in The Telegraph, "and, under him and Duncan Fletcher, the England team have made slow, but genuine progress. Now he has to show everybody that he belongs to that side by right, and not privilege." "If some might tremble at the prospect of being singled out for special treatment by Courtney Walsh and Curtly Ambrose," says The Independent`s Derek Pringle, "his Essex team-mates believe a roughing up may just be what the England captain needs to shake him from his torpor." "I`ll be batting at No 3," Hussain says in The Sun today. "My form is not brilliant but my record at No 3 speaks for itself. When England were looking for a No 3 for all those years, I came in and have done it against every attack in the world since 1996." Few fans will be there to see him make good on his promise. Despite the prospect of watching a reinvigorated Brian Lara, "only 8,000 tickets have been sold in advance for the first day," reports Christopher Martin-Jenkins in The Times. [... more]

What The Papers Say is delivered to thousands of readers every morning by web, WAP and email. Sign up today!