England captain Nasser Hussain can expect a torrid time when his county side Essex take on the Australians at Chelmsford tomorrow.

The three-day game is the tourists' last warm-up match before the First Test at Edgbaston next Thursday – and they intend to make things particularly hot for Hussain who has played just two first-class matches this summer.

He is desperate for time in the middle after fracturing his thumb in the First Test against Pakistan; since then he has played just a single one-day game.

But any thoughts of a gentle practice tomorrow will be dispelled when he sees that Glenn McGrath, Jason Gillespie and Brett Lee are lining up against him.

Adam Gilchrist, who will be captaining the Australians in the absence of Steve Waugh, said: "Obviously the big interest will be Hussain and I can't see any reason why we would want to try and take it easy on him.

"It's fair to say that we will be fine tuning for a Test Match. We are playing a strong bowling line-up.

"With regards to our quick bowlers playing, they are obviously prime candidates for the Test Match so they are going to want to make sure they are securing their spots.

"I think that alone is going to provide a fairly torrid time to the Essex batsmen."

Gilchrist went on: "I don't know if it would have a psychological effect on Nasser or not, I don't know him well enough.

"But if you go out and bat against a bowler or a group of bowlers and they work you over and get you out - which is the main thing we will want to do rather than him get time in the middle, I suppose - that will be to our interest in the Test match.

"He has obviously had a tremendous effect on their cricket, on their team as a leader and that is probably why they want him back most. He's obviously done a good job and is inspirational."

Justin Langer will have a fitness test in the morning to see if he has recovered from a painful blow to the wrist while fielding against the MCC at Arundel yesterday.

With scores of four and nought against the MCC, the pressure will be on the left-hander and the same is true of openers Michael Slater and Matthew Hayden, who struggled in the same match.

"They haven't scored the runs and Matty missed out in the one-dayers but we have confidence that they will come through," said Gilchrist.

"They have all got great records and they have established themselves in those positions."

In contrast, Simon Katich and Damien Martyn looked impressive in innings of 168 not out and 80 respectively at the Castle Ground.

"I don't think there is any need for looking around in panic situations at who is going to replace who. We have had a consistent line-up for a number of consecutive matches now and it would be nice to keep that momentum going."

Teams:

Essex (from): N Hussain, A P Grayson, D D J Robinson, S G Law, R C Irani (capt), S D Peters, J S Foster (wkt), M C Ilott, A P Cowan, P M Such, J E Bishop, R S Clinton, M K Davies.

Australians: Slater, Hayden, Langer, M Waugh, Ponting, Martyn, Gilchrist (capt, wkt), Miller, Lee, Gillespie, McGrath.

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