So Nasser Hussain has had the last laugh. By retiring from Test cricket after cracking a superb century that took England to a victory, Hussain effectively shut up those who were gunning for him by quitting on his own terms. For the last couple of years, especially after he resigned the England team’s captaincy, there have been regular calls from former England players for Hussain to be dropped to make way for a younger player. Of course, ‘young’ is a relative term and though England in recent times are looking for players in their early twenties, past experience shows that England’s selectors have looked for experience and not youth and so players tend to make their debuts in their late-twenties and sometimes early thirties. The success of debutant Andrew Strauss who almost scored a century in each innings would have put the English selectors in a quandary if Hussain had decided to stay put. There must have been temptation too as he was just four Tests away from completing 100 Tests for England, but the century he got and that ton at English cricket’s headquarters Lord’s must have helped him make up his mind to resign. It is never an easy decision to give up doing what you love most and especially if the last outing has been successful, but as the late Vijay Merchant so aptly put it, ‘Retire when people ask why, rather than why not’ and in Hussain’s case, the ‘Why nots’, though in a minority were still being vocal.

The majority of the ‘why nots’ were from a TV channel and though there were some in the popular papers, their views would not have counted for much as far as Hussain is concerned for they were not former players. It will be most amazing if, as is being speculated, Hussain will join the commentary team of the very channel whose former players-turned-commentators were calling for his head for the last couple of years. If that does happen, Hussain will be the latest of those players, who ranted against ex-players turned-media-persons for their views and now becomes one of them. He will soon find out that none of the criticism is ever personal but is part of the job where ex-players are supposed to give their opinions and that’s why they are hired.

Apart from the incomparable Richie Benaud, there has been no ex-player-turned media-person who has found the knack of saying the truth without hurting those about whom it’s being spoken. Opinions have to be given pretty much straightaway and there’s little time to think of the proper word. Most cricketers speak from the heart and not always from the head and so ruffle a few feathers, but there is never any malice intended. Hussain has always been a man of strong opinions and it will be interesting to see how he expresses them on TV. If they are going to be anywhere as spicy as his newspaper column is, then he too will find the current players unhappy with what he is saying and if he tries to be diplomatic with his comments, the viewers will quickly tell the TV channel so.

England’s superb win over a resilient New Zealand team indicates the fine progress they have been making under Michael Vaughan. Though Vaughan did not play in the first Test because of injury and thus set up the situation that led to Hussain rethinking his future, there is no doubt that it’s his easygoing, yet firm style that is getting the team to gel. After the convincing win in the West Indies, they have continued the good work by beating New Zealand. The Kiwis are perhaps missing the extra pace of Shane Bond, but he has been out of action for quite a while now and in his absence, the Kiwis did find another bowler who did so well against the South Africans in the home series.

The rains may have played their part, but it does not hide the fact that the West Indies attack after the retirement of Walsh and Ambrose has become a pretty ordinary one. When a lower-order player like Mohamed Rafique who has been included in the Bangladesh side as a spinner is able to go on and get a century, it does show the depths to which the West Indies attack has sunk to. They cannot blame the pitches either, for the four-pronged pace attack of the 70s, 80s and 90s used to roll over sides regularly on the flattest of pitches. This ‘pace’ attack couldn’t dismiss the last few batsmen in the second innings and that saved Bangladesh from losing yet another Test match.

Their top-order had fallen to the old bogey of relaxing mentally after doing well in the first innings and so were quickly back in the pavilion, which did open the window of opportunity for the Windies, but late-order resistance with Rafique playing his part again ensured that there was no embarrassment for Bangladesh this time. At a time when there are calls for Test cricket to be structured in two tiers, Bangladesh’s performances against the West Indies in this Test may well encourage those who feel that only regular competition gets a team better. Certainly, the Bangladesh batting has got a lot better with experience, though its bowling is still not capable of taking 20 wickets in a Test match. Having said that, is there any team apart from Australia today who is capable of doing that match after match, and that too in the absence of it’s star bowlers? You tell me.