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 | |  Wednesday, 13 March, 2002, 08:25 GMT Hussain fired up by Aussie Ponting  Hussain was last man out for England Nasser Hussain drew inspiration from Australia's Ricky Ponting as he rescued England with a battling century on day one of the first Test against New Zealand. Hussain hit a defiant 106 - his 10th ton in 67 Tests - to help England recover to 228 all out after losing two wickets in the first over. And he said watching Ponting score his 10th hundred to clinch a series win for Australia against South Africa the day before had spurred him on. "I saw Ricky Ponting getting his 10th test hundred when I was watching the news and I thought 'It's about time you got your 10th'. That was a good omen.
"It's nice to get a hundred and in difficult circumstances. To carry a team as captain is very important to me and it gave me a lot of satisfaction. "I'll remember today for the sort of effort I gave to the team, that's the most important thing rather than 10 Test hundreds." Hussain said he knew batting was going to be difficult on the bowler-friendly drop-in pitch at Jade Stadium. "When you took guard and you could see the moisture underneath," he said. "Even when I put my bat down after my second ball it slipped on the green grass, so I knew it would zip around a bit.
"But I also knew that if they bowled in the wrong areas the ball would go off for four very quickly, so I had to stay in a positive frame of mind." Hussain's 325-minute stint gave England hope - and they struck an early blow by removing Mark Richardson as New Zealand reached stumps at 9 for 1 in reply. Hussain believes Thursday's opening session will be crucial as England try to build on their early breakthrough. "At the moment we're in the game because of some fighting, but it depends on how we use that new ball tomorrow morning because it is a wicket that is getting better," he said. "We've got three or four useful seam bowlers, we've got a useful spinner and I can't emphasis how important tomorrow is." | |
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