By Martin Gough

In the space of three weeks, England have gone from world-beaters to a side forced to scrap for a draw in the opening Test against South Africa.

Hussain carried the blame for England's fall from grace

A young England side, overhauled after a disappointing World Cup, carried off the one-day NatWest Series, crushing the tourists by seven wickets in the final.

Expectations were high that a South Africa side undergoing their own restructuring would struggle to regain any pride once the whites were back on.

But Nasser Hussain has carried the can for his team's sudden change in fortunes by announcing his resignation as captain on Monday.

Hussain quits as captain

So what went wrong for the home side? Was Hussain solely to blame?

Change in captains

Hussain faced calls to stand down even before the summer began, and Michael Vaughan's success both as one-day skipper and with the bat in this Test will not have helped.

After being described as "uptight", Hussain took a slightly more laid-back approach in the field, and has conferred with veteran players, including Vaughan, regularly.

But the damage was done before the teams took the field, as Hussain used his Sunday newspaper column to hint at rifts within the touring team.

Opposite number Graeme Smith cited the comments as a motivating factor after embarrassing England on the opening day.

Inexperienced attack

In one-day cricket you can get away with simply keeping the runs down rather than taking wickets, and batsmen often give their wickets away looking for quick runs.

But the fact that a side needs to take 20 wickets to win a Test match - and that a bowler's approach needs to change accordingly - has hit England hard.

The central contracts system has also come in for criticism, with three of England's pace bowlers denied a first-class match between the one-day final and the first Test.

James Anderson only bowled his 500th first-class over during the Test, and it was obvious that he was learning on the job.

Toss of a coin

Hussain's luck with the toss has never been good - the coin has fallen on the wrong side in 25 of the 44 Tests in which he has been captain.

But at Edgbaston the simple flip of a coin could have proved vital.

The Birmingham pitch offered increasingly variable bounce, meaning South Africa got by far the best of conditions.

Smith hit a spectacular 277

As Mark Butcher showed with his century against Australia at Headingley in 2001, one man in fine form can change the course of a match.

After a poor one-day series, Smith took his time to settle in before making a mess of England's bowling figures.

Herschelle Gibbs and Vaughan showed what a good batting surface it was early, but Smith went the extra mile.

Team selection

Having stepped down from the panel at the start of the summer, Hussain had no official say in the make-up of the side, although he was allowed some input.

Critics called for Chris Read to replace wicket-keeper Alec Stewart, although the veteran was his usual solid self and performed well with the bat until undone by a brilliant delivery.

Anthony McGrath kept his place ahead of Graham Thorpe, widely considered the best batsman in the country, on the basis that he had "done nothing wrong" in two Tests so far.

But despite a good start, the Yorkshire captain was dismissed for 34 by a delivery he could have left alone.