Old Trafford Test, Day 1
Thursday, June 13, 2002

That was a very 250-for-four-type of pitch. It's a little bit slower than we'd have liked, and it's already slightly two-paced with one or two cracks, but that said, it's a very good wicket and a good toss to win – that was my second win in a row, which I was quite excited about!

I never had any doubts about batting first, despite the overhead conditions. For some reason the wickets at Old Trafford are always pretty much the same. – the atmospherics never really play a part and it would be very surprising for any captain to stick the opposition in.

There's already been a bit of turn for Muralitharan, but that's not saying much. He'll turn it on anything and it's unfair to compare that with how our spinner will bowl. We will have to see later in the game.

Dilhara Fernando has been a useful addition to the Sri Lankan side, and we'll have to watch him in the second innings, and in the one-dayers as well. He'll go for a few runs, but he's got an extra yard of pace, and that slower ball is very tricky indeed, as I proved.

Everything else – his bouncers and all – were fine to deal with, but when he got me out I simply lost sight of the ball. It may have looked like a pretty wild shot, but no-one gives their wicket away in a Test match. One moment the ball was a half-volley, the next it was gone. I didn't want to do what Michael Vaughan had done earlier, and pat it back to the fielder, so I really went for it.

But Old Trafford can be a tricky place for facing slower balls, especially from the Stretford End. There's a very low sightscreen, with a row of boxes above, and if you get a bowler with a bit of extra height – like Fernando today, or Courtney Walsh to Graham Thorpe a couple of years ago – you can get into all sorts of difficulties.

We weren't really tempted to make any changes to the side for today. Simon Jones is in the reckoning, and we're monitoring his progress, but he's still a bit raw. If the pitch had been a bit quicker he might have played, but we'll unleash him in due course.

But all in all, it's been a good day. It was disappointing to lose Thorpe in that twenty-minute spell at the end, but these things happen. We just need to get stuck in tomorrow, bat for most of the day, and post a score as close to 500 as possible.

Nasser Hussain was talking to Andrew Miller. His thoughts appear on Wisden.com, other duties permitting, at the end of each day of international cricket that England play.

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