Hussain urges players to turn in tough performance in Test

By Ted Corbett

PESHAWAR, NOV. 11. Nasser Hussain, the England captain, urged his players to ignore the blaze of publicity surrounding Andrew Caddick's row with a Pakistani umpire yesterday and turn in a tough performance in the first Test which begins this week. ``I know I ought to be telling you a pack of lies, that my players will behave themselves in future,'' he said after England won its second successive warm-up game in Peshawar.

``Instead I want everyone to know that we are here to win a Test series. I want my players to be hard, hard, hard. We are not playing a soft game; cricket is a tough game for men. When the Test begins on Wednesday, the Pakistanis will be right in our faces. Words will be said, just as they have in every Test for years. I don't want my players to give way. I want them to show - both in this series and when the Australians come to England next summer - that they will not buckle. There is a limit, of course, when banter becomes too serious but we know those limits and we will try not to exceed them.'' The argument, which still rages in Pakistan where there was no telecast, no radio broadcast and precious little space in the newspapers for the match against the North West Frontier Province Governor's side, is whether Caddick exceeded the limit. And, perhaps even more to the point, whether Hussain should have taken him off immediately.

Until Hussain issued his battle cry after England had won by eight wickets the fourth day of the match centred around attempts by both sides to play down the incident in which Caddick is alleged to have used offensive language to the umpire Sajjad Asghar. A statement claimed there had been a ``misunderstanding'', that all the meetings with the match referee Farrukh Saman were ``informal'' and that there had been no ``official'' report. Caddick will suffer no penalty and England has not even been warned. That is all so much codswallop.

The truth about the Caddick incident is that he overdid the histrionics, that Hussain failed to cool him down and that if he repeats his glaring, sledging, cussin' and short-pitched bowling in Lahore there may be serious trouble.

It was so unprofessional. England has made friends in this country - ``we have not a single complaint'' Hussain insisted - but they need umpires to be even-handed and not looking over their shoulders in case there is another mouthful of foul language on its way.

The ease with which England won yesterday - when Caddick took Akhtar Sarfaraz's wicket with the second ball and England needed only 80 in the second innings - will in no way reflect what happens in the Test.

England is still an emerging side up against a tough, seasoned Pakistan team, led by Moin Khan, who is every bit as determined and resourceful as Hussain.

Hussain has a painful back condition and will need daily treatment from the England physio Dean Conway if he is to play at the Gadaffi Stadium, Craig White has a hamstring pull and Michael Vaughan an ankle injury but all are expected to be fit. (Earlier report on Page 20).

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