Hussain must face reality

It is also worth remembering that when the Second Test finishes in 10 days, Hussain will not be a part of the set-up again until the Test team meet up three days before the first match of the series against South Africa starts on 24 July.

That is an absence of six weeks, in which time we will all have got used to Vaughan acting and speaking as England captain How, I wonder, will Hussain really cope with that as he potters quietly around the county circuit with Essex?

His own form will be critical. If he can knuckle down and score masses of runs for his county, he will arrive for the First Test against South Africa at Edgbaston brimming with confidence. Inevitably he will find his position under the spotlight there, but he will be able to cope with that much more easily if his critics are not able to destabilise him by saying that he is out of form.

It might also be sensible for Hussain to stop talking about retirement - unless he really means it. His latest self-imposed deadline appears to be the end of this summer but, with Vaughan now in place, there has not been the mass throwing up of hands in horror at the prospect of Hussain standing down, as was the case a couple of years ago.

Lord MacLaurin, then chairman of the board, suggested Hussain could have the job as long as he wanted and his position was guaranteed. However, time marches on and the situation is now very different.

If he is not careful - and especially if the runs do not flow - Hussain might find someone takes him up on his offer.

Anderson gives better spin than Tuffers

Lord's was awash with beaming faces last weekend when England defeated Zimbabwe.

The fact the tourists twice batted atrociously and dropped vital catches was largely ignored because, coming at a time when

Phil Tufnell's insect-eating activities just outside Brisbane were perceived to be the saviour of our country's cricket, England's win gave the opportunity for sanity to prevail at last.

Mark Butcher won the man of the match, and Anthony McGrath made a very promising, if unexpected, debut.

However, the player who really caught the eye, not merely of cricket aficionados but also of the public relations executives at the England and Wales Cricket Board, was James Anderson.

Here is a good-looking 20-year-old who really does have a future on the field and, with his highlighted hair and easy smile, he fits the bill as far as shedding cricket's stuffy and old-fashioned image is concerned.

Understandably shy, Anderson has not given many interviews and, I believe, his encounter with Pat Murphy on Radio 5 Live's Close of Play immediately after the game was his first live appearance on national radio. Finally, Pat posed the question the PR boys wanted to hear: "I must ask: Are you James, or Jimmy?"

"Actually," Anderson replied in his best Bolton accent, "I'm James. That's what my mum wants, anyway."

Perfect! An athletic and naturally talented young sportsman with great looks who, above all, does what mum tells him.

Sorry, Tuffers! It's back to the jungle for you.

Spellbound by wizards of Oz

It's great to have Dennis Lillee back in the country. He was the most perfect fast bowler there can ever have been, developing from a real tearaway who raced in from the sightscreen with arms flailing and dark hair flowing in 1972, to the balding genius who could bowl whatever delivery he fancied.

With Jeff Thomson, Dennis formed one of the most lethal combinations in cricket - Lillee was the more thoughtful, while Thommo, it seemed to me, was interested in little else but inflicting serious physical damage. I encountered them once which, as a hapless and cowardly tailender, was enough. I was already retreating to square leg when Thommo came into the attack.

His first delivery was ferociously fast, short and slung miles down the leg side - it almost hit the square leg umpire. "Come on Thommo!" chided someone in the slip cordon. "You can do better than that." Quick as a flash Thommo yelled back: "I thought the pommie b****** would be standing there, that's why!"