Nasser Hussain - One Day Internationals

One Day Internationals

Hussain played 88 One Day internationals for England with an average of 30.2, making his debut against Pakistan in October 1989 where he scored 2. Similarly to his Test career and the selection policy that blighted the early 1990s in English International Cricket, his ODI career was one of false starts insomuch as after his second ODI he had to wait a further four years for a re-selection. Hussain only became a regular in the ODI team by the Zimbabwe series of 1996 and 1997 where by that point he was the England Test captain. From then he went on to score 16 fifties and a single century which was against India at Lords in 2002. Hussain captained his country in 56 ODIs and played in 9 World Cup games; he resigned as captain immediately after the 2003 World Cup.

Hussain's highest score of 115 occurred in perhaps the most memorable of his One Day Internationals. Described by BBC correspondent Jonathan Agnew as "the most exciting one-day international" he had ever seen, India overhauled England's 326 at Lords, their highest score for ten years, to win with 3 balls to spare in the summer of 2002.

For some time before the game, Hussain's position in the ODI team and his insistence of batting at number three had been repeatedly questioned by the press, most notably Sky Sports commentators, and future colleagues, Ian Botham and Bob Willis.

Hussain responded to those critics with a typically belligerent innings, and along with the faster scoring Marcus Trescothick added 185 off just 167 balls. But after reaching three figures Hussain gestured wildly to the press box, in defiance of the critics who had questioned his decision to bat at number three, by pointing to the number 3 on his back and raising three fingers to the media box and the ex-professionals who frequented it.

Despite the century and the gesture, it was felt by some members of the media that the slow innings had proved the truth of their criticisms, and some even stated that "Captain Angry" had made a rod for his own back.