Hussain inspects the latest damage

And two years ago, in the shadow of Father Time, he broke a finger in the field against New Zealand.

Hussain and injuries are not strangers.

The 33-year-old could be excused for thinking he is cursed after a host of problems.

Even on his first Test tour he was struck down.

While in the Caribbean in 1990 he fractured his wrist while playing tennis.

He endured the discomfort to play in the fifth Test with the injury but missed the rest of the following season as he recovered.

After a Test recall in 1996 following a three-year absence he hit two centuries at home against India but during his innings of 107 at Trent Bridge he fractured a finger.

It forced him to sit out the first Test against Pakistan - and you guessed it, it was at Lord's.

Hussain was in the wars in Pakistan last year

Remarkably, he enjoyed a relatively injury-free spell until his Lord's hoodoo descended against in the second Test against New Zealand in 1999.

He fielded a shot by Adam Parore but came up holding his hand.

He duly underwent an x-ray which ruled him out of the Test and he was helplessly watching from the balcony as the tourists recorded their first Test win at Lord's.

Later in 1999 on the tour of South Africa, Hussain was hampered with a back complaint.

He was again hurt in the field last year in the lead-up to the second Test against West Indies while playing for Essex.

His England colleague in that Lord's Test - Nottinghamshire Chris Read - cracked a drive which fractured Hussain's left thumb.

Hussain was forced to watch ifrom the balcony n 1999

That also forced him out of the NatWest triangular one-day tournament against West Indies and Zimbabwe and now he likely to miss this year's edition also.

Yet his hands are not the only part of his body that suffers.

At varying times throughout his career he has also been sidelined with back and groin injuries.

Against Pakistan last year he almost missed the second Test after being hit on the forearm by a Wasim Akram delivery.

But he recovered and went on to lead England to a historic win in Karachi.

For England's hopes in the Ashes they would hope to have him back in the harness and back in form.