The sight of Nasser Hussain being ushered away from the Gaddafi stadium by England physio Dean Conway for a "precautionary x-ray" will have brought back painful memories for England supporters.

While the x-rays subsequently revealed that Hussain sustained only bruising, the blow is the latest in a long line of injuries for Hussain.

From the very start of his international career, Hussain seems to have attracted hand and wrist injuries that have interrupted not only his personal development, but also that of the England team, at crucial times.

No sooner had made his international debut in the Caribbean as a precocious 21-year-old, without even a full season of county cricket behind him, than he suffered the first of a series of injuries.

A sprained wrist picked up playing tennis in Guyana did not stop Hussain from taking part in three Test matches, including the first and the fifth, against the West Indies.

Such was his desperation to impress that he played when would have been better advised to rest himself for the final match in Antigua.

In pain throughout, he battled his way to scores of 35 and 34 in a match that England lost heavily.

But the injury kept him out for most of the 1992 county season and he did not regain his England place for three years.

Though he played against Australia in 1993, the breakthrough finally came with a century against India in 1995, and by the time he scored a match-winning double hundred against Australia in the first Test of the 1997 Ashes series, he had become a permanent fixture in the side.

Ambition

And last year he achieved his ambition of becoming England captain when he replaced Alec Stewart.

After eight successive captains had lost their first Test match in charge, Hussain seemed to be heading for a similar fate against New Zealand when England were bowled out for 127 on the second day, a first-innings deficit of 100.

But an impassioned tea-time speech by the captain preceded an inspired spell by his bowlers that saw New Zealand crumble to 107 all out.

The following day, nightwatchman Alex Tudor knocked off the runs with disdain.

The second Test at Lord's seemed to be going well enough for Hussain when he scored 61 in the first innings, but he broke his finger trying to stop the ball in the gully and had to watch the second half of the match from the balcony.

It made grim viewing.

England, high from their success in the first Test, came down with a bump, being dismissed for 229 in the second innings.

They went on to lose by nine wickets.

Hussain missed the third Test and returned for the fourth, which England also lost to hand the series to New Zealand.

Hussain's next injury, this time suffered while fielding at backward point for his county, Essex, could not have come at a worse time.