By Dave Buxton
March 5 2003

England captain Nasser Hussain has quit as England's one-day skipper after his side were knocked out of the 2003 World Cup. That's not the real reason behind his decision though. Read on for my opinion....

Nasser Quits - Who's To Blame?

The decision from the Essex man comes as no real shock, although it is a shame it has come to this situation.

It's really all boiled down to 'this' match in Zimbabwe.

My opinion, is that England should have played. If they weren't going to go to Harare because of morale issues, then you have had to applaud the players, but once it was clear it was because of security issues, than England shot themselves in the foot.

Ok, so if I had recieved a death threat then I'd probably feel the same, but once it was known that it was a hoax, England should have gone. Had they done, we'd proabably be in The Super Sixes (if you can call them that) and we wouldn't be talking about Nass, because he'd still be in charge.

So, who do you blame? Well, not Nass. For me, The ECB should look at themselves. Their part in this debacle was disgusting. They didn't offer any help or advice to Nass and his men and kept putting pressure on the team. Where was Duncan Fletcher in all this?! He never seemed to had a tv interview on the situation and as coach, surely he should have been there. And as for The ICC and the government, well, they are both a disgrace. They put the indecision in the players minds and are the main cause of Nasser's downfall. If this was football, the government wouldn't even have bothered sticking their oar in and Uefa would have moved the match.

All this has meant Nasser's decision to quit as captain. Not his stats (although that might have had a contributing factor) but this match in Zimbabwe. Everyone has let Nass down and he's taken it the cop for it.

Nasser's record as England one-day captain speaks for itself. 56 played and won more than lost, albeit just one more at 28 to 27. A decent record when you consider the opposition played.

Hussain does want to stay on as Test captain, which I think is excellent. No one can say he's not worthy or his Test place and the side looks to be gelling nicely.

So the end of an era in one term for Nasser Hussain. He's lead England to more triumphs than lows and shows 100% commitment with his heart on his sleeve. It's a shame it's all ended like this and Nass doesn't deserve this. But, being the man Nass is, he's taken the decision now rather than leave it for a few months, which speaks volumns for Nasser's character and proves the point of him wearing his heart on his sleeve.

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Date: 5/3/03

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