"We hope Murali plays . . . and we hope he goes all around the park," said Hussain when the Kandy man's involvement was in serious doubt because of a groin injury.
Well, barring any last-minute setbacks, Murali will play tomorrow and it is most unlikely he'll oblige England's captain by allowing himself to be hit out of the attack.
It is well worth remembering, however, that Saqlain Mushtaq, who was supposed to be Pakistan's match-winner, took all eight wickets to fall in the first innings of the First Test at Lahore three months ago, but still could not prevent Hussain's men from making nearly 500.
That must be England's plan of campaign here as well: to blunt Murali's cutting edge as best they can while aiming to score the bulk of their runs from the other end. On paper, at least, Sri Lanka's support bowling is not a frightening proposition. Their likeliest new-ball pairing, Chaminda Vaas and Nuwan Zoysa, are respectable operators, but their greatest value to Sri Lanka is provided by their left-handedness.
They can rough up the pitch out-side the right-handed batsman's off stump - and then watch Murali take advantage.
As for the other four spinners in Sri Lanka's squad of 15, England have seen them all and will expect to at least give as good as they get.
In Pakistan, Mike Atherton, Graham Thorpe and Craig White were England's batsmen of real substance, with Marcus Trescothick not far behind. Hussain, Alec Stewart and Graeme Hick failed to muster 300 runs between them in three Tests.
Hussain was on the wrong end of some poor umpiring and there have been signs in the early stages of this tour that last year's lean times are behind him. But England urgently need Stewart to find some form against spin. An hour or two at his best not only lifts the run rate, but also spreads confidence through the entire team, so dismissive is he of good bowling as well as bad.
The trouble is Stewart has always looked more comfortable batting against pace, rather than spin, and he seems less bullish than for a long time. Understandably, seeing his name dragged into the match-fixing inquiry affected his spirits in Pakistan. But, so far, he has struggled to get out of second gear on this tour and being stumped twice already will not have lightened his mood.
England's dilemma over whether to play all seven specialist batsmen, as well as all-rounder White, may not be resolved until tomorrow morning. Even if Hick and Michael Vaughan do survive the cut, White deserves to stay at No7 - a position he now feels comfortable with.
Spinners on both sides will be expected to take the bulk of the wickets here, with seamers possibly coming more into their own in Kandy and Colombo, but for Darren Gough there is only one way to go into any Test. He said: "I've just got to keep running in and trying my hardest. If you can nip out one or two with the new ball, when it might swing a bit, then you're doing a good job for the team."
Knocking over Sanath Jayasuriya, Sri Lanka's captain and senior opener, would not go amiss with England. After a poor tour of South Africa, the man who scored a Test double century at The Oval in 1998 at not far short of a run a ball is back in touch following a handful of one-day games in New Zealand.
Sri Lanka won that Test two and a half years ago with Murali taking 16 wickets. Stopping them here promises to be tougher still.
Meanwhile, security surrounding England's players has been tightened to that accorded to heads of state for fear of anti-British demonstrations. Their hotel is being heavily guarded, while 200 commandoes will be on alert inside the ground.
ENGLAND (from): M Atherton, M Trescothick, N Hussain (capt), G Thorpe, A Stewart (wkt), G Hick, M Vaughan, C White, A Giles, R Croft, A Caddick, D Gough.
SRI LANKA (from): S Jayasuriya (capt), M Atapattu, K Sangakkara (wkt), A de Silva, M Jayawardene, R Arnold, T Dilshan, K Dharmasena, C Vaas, N Zoysa, M Muralitharan, D Fernando, D Hettiarachchi, M Pushpakumara, K Lokuarachchi.
