By Matthew Allen BBC Sport Online

England's innings defeat at the hands of Australia in the second Test at Adelaide has led to the inevitable calls for skipper Nasser Hussain to step down.

Former Australian Test star Merv Hughes believes that England should appoint a new captain for the next Test in Perth after losing the two opening matches by crushing margins.

Have your say on Hussain captaincy

Hughes accused Hussain of "giving up" as Australia piled on the runs in Adelaide.

But chairman of selectors David Graveney was quick to come to Hussain's defence, pointing out that England have made huge strides in the last three years.

Hussain has had his share of critics

"The relationship between the captain and the coach [Duncan Fletcher] is the reason that we have had a certain amount of success against anybody other than Australia," he said.

Hussain has been widely credited along with Fletcher with transforming a fractured England team into a strong fighting unit with superb morale.

England have won 14 Tests, drawn 12 and lost 13 since Hussain took over at the helm against New Zealand in July 1999.

England won that Test, but lost the series to slump to bottom of the Test championship table and then crashed to defeat in the next series in South Africa.

Hussain masterminded a revival that saw England secure their first home series win for 30 years against the West Indies in the summer of 2000.

And he then went on to lead impressive series wins in Pakistan and Sri Lanka that winter.

But criticism against Hussain started to creep in when England toured India last winter and adopted negative bowling tactics with a weakened attack, losing the series.

Hussain was blasted again during the summer for adopting the same tactics at home when India's batsmen started to dominate.

And his captaincy was called into question when he won the toss but elected to field in the first Ashes Test at the Gabba and watched Australia's rack up 492 as England crashed to a 384-run defeat.

But England and Wales Cricket Board chief executive Tim Lamb still supports Hussain all the way.

Trescothick could take over from Hussain

Lamb called for Hussain to reconsider when the 34-year-old hinted in the summer that he may call it a day after the World Cup next year.

England have, after all, embarked on a long-term development programme with the aim of taking Australia's crown of being the world's best Test and one-day team by 2007.

Hussain and Fletcher were brought together to supervise the first stages of that task and have between them dragged England from the foot of the Test championship to mid-table respectablilty.

And it is hard to judge England and Hussain from their perormances against world champions Australia, who also crushed South Africa and Pakistan in the last year.

A more relevant yard stick by which to judge Hussain is how England perform when South Africa tour next summer, if he wants to continue in the job until then.

England have plenty of candidates to take over as captain, including Marcus Trescothick and Mark Butcher, but if they want to progress it would be better to avoid knee-jerk reactions and stick to the game plan.