Nasser Hussain - Playing With Fire: The Autobiography

Playing with Fire

NASSER HUSSAIN

with Paul Newman

MICHAEL JOSEPH

an imprint of

PENGUIN BOOKS

MICHAEL JOSEPH

Published by the Penguin Group
Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
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First published 2004
1

Copyright Nasser Hussain, 2004

The moral right of the author has been asserted

All rights reserved.
Without limiting the rights under copyright
reserved above, no part of this publication may be
reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system,
or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior
written permission of both the copyright owner and
the above publisher of this book

A CIP catalogue record for this bookis available from the British Library

EISBN: 9780141904085

Nassers parents soon after their marriage

Nassers family in India

An early family photo with Nasser and his siblings, Abbas and Mel

An early visit to Lords with a teammate

Nasser waiting to bat at Essex (Graham Morris)

The scoreboard on an England Under-19 tour to Sri Lanka, where Nasser scored his first hundred at Kandy

Nasser accepting an award from Jonathan Agnew in his youth

Nassers first season with Essex in 1987

A hundred for the Combined Universities team in their march to the Benson & Hedges Cup quarter-finals in 1989 (Patrick Eagar)

Nassers first Test innings, against the West Indies in Jamaica in 1990 (Patrick Eagar)

In the England dressing room with Alec Stewart and Geoff Boycott after the win in Jamaica

Celebrating the fantastic victory in Jamaica on Nassers Test debut in 1990 (Patick Eagar)

Nasser being dismissed (Graham Morris)

Winning the county championship with Essex in 1992 (Graham Morris)

Nasser with Graham Thorpe, who scored a century on his Test debut against Australia in 1993 (Patrick Eagar)

A family shot of Nasser and Karens wedding in 1993

Nassers first Man-of-the-Match award for England (Patrick Eagar)

On the tourist trail with Darren Gough in Zimbabwe

The third victim of a hat-trick from Zimbabwes Eddo Brandes on the tour of 1996 (Graham Morris)

Atherton and Hussain discuss a vitally important topic (Philip Brown)

There was a lot of respect in the captaincoach partnership of Atherton and Lloyd (Graham Morris)

Nasser on a team run (Graham Morris)

A double hundred against Australia at Edgbaston in 1997 (Patrick Eagar)

The big moment (Graham Morris)

Mike Atherton was an inspiration and role model for Nasser as England captain (Patrick Eagar)

Beating Australia at the Oval under Atherton in 1997 (Graham Morris)

Waiting for the umpires decision as Australia celebrate (Graham Morris)

Dismissed by Shane Warne in a one-day final in Sydney (Graham Morris)

Handing Ronnie Irani the ball during his brief spell as Essex captain (Graham Morris)

Duncan Fletcher, the most significant figure in Englands improvement since 1999 (Winston Bynorth)

Nasser sitting with the England team for his first game as captain, against New Zealand at Edgbaston in 1999 (Daily Mail)

What happens when Duncan Fletcher goes? (Philip Brown)

Nassers only bowl in Test cricket (Winston Bynorth)

Darren Gough accepts South African congratulations after scoring the winning runs in the discredited Test in Centurion (Winston Bynorth)

An early victory with the one-day side (Graham Morris)

Walking off in the dark in Karachi after winning the final Test (Graham Morris)

Taking it all in, in the aftermath of the dramatic win in Karachi, late in 2000 (Graham Morris)

Leading the singing after winning in Karachi (Graham Morris)

Returning with the trophy from a momentous win in Pakistan (Camera Press)

Lifting the Wisden Trophy at the Oval in 2000 (Patrick Eagar)

Displaying silverware with Marcus Trescothick, Alec Stewart, Andy Caddick and Graeme Hick (Camera Press)

Celebrating in Sri Lanka (Graham Morris)

Darren Gough soaks up the applause (Graham Morris)

Nasser talking with his dad in Jaipur during the Indian tour of 2001 (Daily Mail)

A moment to ponder during the tour of India in 2001 (Graham Morris)

The proud parents with Jacob, June 2001 (Daily Mail)

Showing off his other sporting passion, golf

Nasser with his dad in their home city of Madras (Winston Bynorth)

Relatives and friends at a Hussain family reunion in Madras in 2001 (Winston Bynorth)

Nassers dad returns home to the Madras Cricket Club (Daily Mail)

Nasser and his parents at Buckingham Palace as Nasser receives his OBE

Nassers three-fingered salute to his one-day critics at Lords in 2002 (Philip Brown)

Leaving for Australia with Jacob late in 2002 (Camera Press)

A Test century at Lords against India in 2002 (Philip Brown)

The fateful moment when Steve Waugh tossed the coin in Brisbane (Patrick Eagar)

The Australian media gleefully celebrate Nassers mistake in inserting Australia after the fateful Brisbane toss (Winston Bynorth)

Nasser soon after the birth of his son Joel in November 2002, Australia

Nasser taking a walk in a Perth park with Jacob and Joel

On the field with Ben Hollioake (Winston Bynorth)

Ben Hollioakes life and death are commemorated with a minutes silence (Graham Morris)

Trying to get the best out of Andrew Caddick was one of Nassers biggest challenges as England captain (Philip Brown)

Nasser and England consigned to World Cup history, Harare, 2003 (Graham Morris)

Nasser with Tim Lamb (Philip Brown)

Leaving the Cullinan Hotel in Cape Town at the height of the Zimbabwe crisis (Graham Morris)

The statement issued on Nassers resignation as England one-day captain (Winston Bynorth)

Leaving the field with James Anderson and Robert Key (Graham Morris)

Nasser found James Anderson the hardest player to captain during his time in charge (Graham Morris)

Resigning as England captain at Edgbaston (Philip Brown)

Nassers nephew Reece is being given every encouragement to follow in Nassers footsteps (Daily Mail)

Showing Reece how it should be done at home

Nasser leaving a disciplinary meeting after being accused of calling Muttiah Muralitharan a chucker (Graham Morris)

Nasser hits a 6 in his last game for Essex at Cardiff (Winston Bynorth)

A century for Essex against Glamorgan in Cardiff in 2004 (Winston Bynorth)

Catching Craig McMillan of New Zealand at short leg during Nassers last Test (Philip Brown)

Nassers hundred for England against New Zealand at Lords (Winston Bynorth)

Joy at completing a hundred against New Zealand at Lords in his last appearance as a player (Philip Brown)

The moment of victory, with a hundred under his belt at Lords (Winston Bynorth)

Walking off with his old mate Graham Thorpe (Philip Brown)