Hussain out for three weeks

LONDON, JULY 10. Nasser Hussain, the England captain, will miss the second Test against Australia which begins at Lord's on July 19, after breaking the little finger of his left hand during the defeat at Edgbaston this week-end. The injury is said to be extremely painful but it is nothing like as distressing as the headache this new piece of bad luck has given the England selectors.

The specialist Hussain visited on Monday - while the Australians celebrated their triumph at the men's final at Wimbledon where, to their clear disappointment, their compatriot Pat Rafter lost - means that there is a danger he will also have to drop out of the third Test at Trent Bridge which begins in 22 days' time.

That may be longer than three weeks but it allows no time for Hussain to get in a net session much less a match and - even if he plays - will leave him seriously short of batting practice at a time when runs are hardly flowing freely for him anyway. It is his fifth broken bone in the hand in the last five years and the conjecture round the cricket circuit today was that it is not simply a product of bad luck, but of a poor technique. Playing low may suit dull English pitches and unthreatening English medium pace but against the 90 miles an hour men on the harder wickets of Test cricket it is an invitation to break fingers and thumbs. England's physiotherapist Dean Conway said: ``The advice we have had from the specialist is that the fracture is stable and Nasser's finger will be in

a splint until next Monday. He should be able to start mobilising the joint thereafter but the specialist's initial thoughts are that he will be out of cricket for around three weeks.'' - Ted Corbett

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