Nasser Hussain
Randwick Petersham Cricket Club | June 17, 2024
Nasser Hussain became the second professional cricketer to play with Petersham-Marrickville DCC when he joined the club for the 1992-93 season. The success of having David Capel as player/coach the previous season whetted the club’s appetite for a return. Unfortunately, Capel was unavailable. As had been the case in gaining Capel, Wayne Mulherin again contacted his UK friend, Northampton County player Nigel Felton who recommended Nasser Hussain, an Essex professional who had played three Tests for England on a tour of the West Indies in 1990. Nasser accepted the opportunity and joined Petersham-Marrickville as player/coach for the season. Seven years later he would captain England.
Nasser Hussain was born in Madras, India on 28 March 1968. His family moved to England in 1975. With his father Jawaad having played cricket for Madras in the Ranji Trophy competition in 1966-67, Nasser had an early introduction to cricket. He was a right-arm leg-spin bowler who played for English Schools under 11 and under 15 representative teams. He captained the under 15s and was considered the best young leg-spin bowler in England. He toured Australia in 1987-88 aged 19 representing England in the Youth World Cup.
Nasser joined Essex in 1987 although his talent developed as a batsman while his bowling fell away. He was selected as a batsman for England in 1989 after scoring 990 runs for Essex in the 1989 County Championship. He was named that year as the Cricket Writer’s Club Young Cricketer of the Year. The following season he hit 197 against Surrey at The Oval which led to his Test Cricket debut. His first game for England was against West Indies in Kingston, Jamaica making 13 in his only innings. He scored 35 and 34 in the Third Test but was not selected for England again for three years.
Hussain made his Sydney Grade debut with Petersham-Marrickville making 11 in the round 2 defeat of Penrith at Petersham Oval. It was somewhat of a frustrating start for the 24 year old right-hander as he was padded up for almost three hours while the opening bats, Jeremy Bray and Darren McCoy put on 173 for the first wicket. He experienced a similar delay playing Gordon at Killara in round 9 when Graeme Hughes and David Townsend put on 162 for the first wicket again leaving Nasser padded up in the shed for another three hours!
Having Hussain in their midst gave the 1st Grade side a real boost as it had done the previous summer with David Capel. And once again the side was within sight of a semi-final berth finishing sixth, just two points from Gordon and Manly who finished equal in third place. But in an almost identical replay of 1991-92, a loss in the last game of the season to Fairfield proved to be a real killer. Nasser’s 62 in that match was his highest score in his season tally of 351 runs at an average of 27.
In the new and separate Resch’s Cup Limited Overs competition, Hussain dominated, hitting 176 in three innings with 86 against Campbelltown at Petersham his top score. His average of 58.7 was one of the best in the competition. In his annual report, skipper Greg Hartshorne commented: “Nasser Hussain had a season I’m sure he would describe as less than perfect. Nasser is a player of rare talent who played some outstanding innings for us. Hopefully, he will be back next season”.
As was the case with David Capel, Nasser Hussain proved to be an outstanding coach whose professionalism once again enabled the club to receive the full coaching grant of $8,000 from NSWCA. Apart from club coaching, Hussain completed a number of sessions at nearby schools and assisted in the development of closer liaisons with Canterbury Junior Cricket Association, Canterbury Shires and Marrickville United Women’s CC.
And while there was a hope that Nasser Hussain would return for a further Petersham-Marrickville season that was not to be, as his career took off in sensational fashion. Three months after his return to England he played his fourth Test, lining up against Australia at Nottingham in the Third Ashes Test where he made 71 and 47*. He went on to score his first century in 1996 against India at Birmingham and just on 12 months later at the same ground, he rattled up his highest Test score of 207 with 38 fours in the First Ashes Test against Australia and an attack comprising Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne. Two years later he was appointed captain of England, a role he performed for 45 Test Matches.
When he retired in 2004, Nasser Hussain did so as the scorer of 5,764 runs with 14 centuries and 33 half-centuries in 96 Test Matches. He also played 88 ODIs while in first-class cricket he scored 20,698 runs with 52 centuries. The 207 he made against Australia remained his top score. After his playing days, he made a career as a cricket commentator.
Wayne Mulherin, who negotiated the engagement of Nasser for the season didn’t get to join him on the cricket field as he spent the season working in the USA. However, in an interesting twist, at the time of the initial discussions, Nasser’s brother was already in Sydney. And to add to the co-incidence, he was in fact working with Mulherin’s wife Anne!
