Ahmedabad Test, Day 2
Wednesday, December 12, 2001 It's been a good day. At the start of play I'd have settled … well, not settled, but I'd have been happy with 350. But instead, thanks to a great innings from Craig White, and some good support from the tail, we've got ourselves up to 410. It reminded me of the way we played last winter to be honest, with the tail getting stuck in, partnerships all down the order, even from Matthew Hoggard at the end there. And we picked up two good wickets as well.

But I'm really pleased for Craig. People have got short memories – only last week he was being slagged off after the first Test, but once again he's proved that class is permanent. He's had a tough year with all his injuries, and he was really down in the summer, but he's a popular and quiet guy in the dressing-room, and it was a very emotional moment when he got to his century.

By his own admission he's lost a couple of yards with the ball, which he might never regain, but he's learning to live with his body. We work well together – I can watch him closely from mid-off and I think I'm getting to know his body language pretty well. He was knackered this evening, so when we got the breakthrough I turned to Andrew Flintoff for some extra pace.

James Foster had a good day as well, but again people are far too up and down in their opinions, especially in England. Last week Richard Dawson was the hero after one good bowling performance, and everyone said Fozzie was rubbish. One good innings is not going to turn either of them into a worldbeater. This tour is all about sustained performance – watching, learning, improving.

Fozzie and I had a good chat the other night about how he's progressing, and he knows it will take 20-30 Tests at least before he can be compared to any of the players who've gone before him. Mike Gatting took about that long to score his first century – there's a lot of work still to be done, both here with Duncan [Fletcher] and back home at Essex with Graham Gooch.

Ashley Giles just slotted straight back in – I like captaining Ash, he listens to what I have to say, "Yes skip, whatever you think skip…" He got his wicket, and I really had to remind myself that he's been out of the side for a long, long time. Throw him the ball at the far end, get him tossing it into the rough - it would be tempting to bowl him all day.

But Ash was sat with his foot in an ice-bucket at the close of play, and he's going to be feeling very stiff this evening. Anyone who's out of the game for as long as nine months finds that other parts of their body start to hurt – I was watching some of the former players like Derek Pringle bowling in the nets the other day, and after five overs they were really starting to ache. I've got to watch how I play it with Ash.

I reckon I misread the pitch a bit. I expected it to crumble today but in fact it hardened up overnight so it should be good for at least the first three days. It lost a bit of pace today, but really we need it to deteriorate more, and then make sure we are not batting last. But we've done everything I asked for so far. We batted for a good length of time while the wicket was at its best, and we came out for a strong, disciplined spell of 35 overs this evening. Tomorrow, day three, is what it's all about. I'm not worried about Ganguly or any of the Indian batsmen – what I demand is ninety overs of concentration from my players.

Nasser Hussain was talking to Andrew Miller. His thoughts will appear on Wisden.com throughout the Test and one-day series.

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