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 | | You are in: In Depth: England on Tour |
 | |  Thursday, 6 December, 2001, 23:22 GMT Hussain seeks batting key  James Foster falls victim to Harbhajan Singh England skipper Nasser Hussain admitted it was back to the drawing board for his side after they were comprehensively beaten by India in the opening match of their three-Test series. India triumphed by 10 wickets with a day to spare at Mohali and the wickets in Ahmedabad and Bangalore, the venues for the remaining Tests, are expected to favour their spinners even more. Hussain said the mental approach to batting was the thing England needed to focus on, having been bowled out for under 250 in both innings. "I think the final session of the first day is where we lost the game, that and the missed chances. "We were 170 for two in the first innings when myself and Thorpe were in, and to be 238 all out batting first in India is shooting yourself in the foot. We should have scored 350 or 400," said Hussain. "People have talked about our bowling inexperience, but we have also got it in the batting in these conditions. Only myself, Thorpe and Trescothick went away to Pakistan and Sri Lanka last winter. "The boys are all having to learn - and learn quickly."
England have only five days to find a way to combat spinners Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh, who took 15 wickets between them, before the second Test. But they can take heart from their poerformance in Sri Lanka, when they won the series 2-1 after losing the opening game. Hussain added: "There's only so much work you can do in the nets - you're not going to find too many Harbhajans and Kumbles in the nets between now and Ahmedabad. "There are certain things that you can do against these two that you can't do against other people, and vice versa. We're going to have to use our heads a bit more when we bat." He praised England's inexperienced bowling attack for their tenacity, especially young off-spinner Richard Dawson, who claimed four wickets. "Dawson, on debut, bowled beautifully and generally the way we went about our bowling was exceptional. I was very pleased with the discipline we showed against some very good players on a very good pitch." | |
 
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