Since becoming captain of England Nasser Hussain has proved beyond doubt that he is a born leader of men, but his man management efforts had also drained him of runs. But, to the riotous delight of the Barmy Army, chanting passionately under a vivid Mayflower Tree, he finally ended his 14-month barren spell today with a glorious century that keeps England's hopes alive in this three-Test series.

Hussain - glorious hundred Photo CricInfo

The second day of this Kandy Test Match was always likely to be crucial. If England's batsmen had faltered then their fate in this series would have been sealed. They endured a difficult start too as they lost both their trustworthy openers in the early overs. Michael Atherton trapped lbw for seven and Marcus Trescothick caught by Sangakkara for 23 as he top edged a pull-sweep.

Nasser Hussain and Graham Thorpe, however, rescued the innings with a stirring third wicket partnership of 165 - an all wicket record partnership for England against Sri Lanka, surpassing the 139 made by Gooch and Stewart made at Lord's in 1991 – that carried England to 249 for five at the close of play.

Even more impressive than the statistical weight of runs was the manner in which they were gathered. Hussain's 'Brave New England' has garnered a reputation for determined batsmanship this winter but today they threw off their defensive shackles to take the attack to Sri Lanka's spin merchants.

Thorpe - 59 valuable runs Photo CricInfo

Seldom can Muralitharan have been treated with such callous disregard for his reputation. Graham Thorpe thumped him back over his head soon after coming to the crease and Nasser Hussain swung the magical off-spinner for two large sixes.

Hussain put the marked change in approach down to the pitch: "It is difficult to push Muralitharan around as he dips the ball on you so there are basically two ways of playing him; kicking him and hitting him. In Galle the shot over the top was a danger shot, but here, with the ball coming on to the bat, it was a bit more of a percentage stroke. It is also one of my favourite shots."

Muralitharan went wicketless until the 85th over of the day, his spin blunted by England's fine batting and a Sri Lankan umpire, B.C. Cooray, wary of repeating the errors of Galle. Hussain batted heroically, but he was perhaps lucky to survive two appeals when he had made 50 and 62 as television replays confirmed that he had been caught at silly point off Muralitharan.

Nasser Hussain, however, has had to endure some ill fortune of his own during the last 14-months, most notably when B.C. Cooray gave him out lbw off a thick outside edge on England's tour of South Africa last winter. No-one should begrudge him his fortune. He certainly didn't: "I have had a bit of a rough time with decisions so it was nice for certain things to go well for me today."

Hussain reached his ninth Test century, his first since Durban 14-months ago, in the 81st over of the innings with a balanced push through extra cover off Muttiah Muralitharan. As he returned for the second run he lifted his arms in a mixture of relief and triumph, before pointing to the dressing room and dedicating it to the team.

"I don't want to be a freeloader and I am passionate about my cricket so it is nice to go into the dressing room and say 'there you are boys,'" he said afterwards. "They have stuck by me during a difficult year and I felt that I owed them that innings."

Hussain admitted that his shortage of runs had been a burden: "It's been a difficult year despite the fact that I have contributed in many other ways, but, as Keith Fletcher said to me, the first thing is your batting."

Sri Lanka's cricketers grew increasingly frustrated as the day progressed, but finally broke through in the 72nd over, when Sanath Jayasuriya, who waited too long before bowling a proper spell, had Thorpe caught at short leg for 59. The Surrey left-hander had reached his half-century off just 87 balls, but became bogged down there after and took 76 balls to score his last nine runs.

The life then started to flow back into Sanath Jayasuriya's weary men and Muttiah Muralitharan was called back for one last spell. He finally bowled Nasser Hussain for 109. In his next over he thought he had Graeme Hick's wicket, but B.C. Cooray wrongly ruled that he had been caught off a bump ball. Muralitharan, however, was not to be denied for long as he trapped Hick lbw in his following over. Alec Stewart and Craig White then survived until the close.

Nasser Hussain correctly pointed out that: "all three results are still possible," and despite the frustrations of poor umpiring, Dav Whatmore was far from downbeat: "England are still 50 runs behind and we are confident that we can bowl them out in the morning. Any lead would be valuable as it will be very difficult batting last on this wicket."

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