Old Trafford Test, Day 2
Friday, June 14, 2002

It is absolutely chucking it down at the moment – I have never seen a storm quite like this. The ground was completely underwater when we left, and as for the light – I haven't seen such darkness since Karachi. The drainage here is pretty good, and the groundstaff do a great job, but I'd be surprised if we are able to start on time tomorrow.

Obviously, we are not losers whatever happens tomorrow. If we get some play, then we can bat ourselves into a strong position; if we don't we can sit down in front of the telly and watch the football! I don't know what England's starting line-up should be – who am I to tell the great Sven what to do – but so long as we get the ball to Beckham we should do fine.

Today was a nothing sort of day – thirty overs, on-off, on-off. It's frustrating for players and public alike, and pretty difficult for both sides. They had a wet ball to contend with, and we had to keep our concentration going in short bursts of play. There were a couple of unfortunate wickets, which we couldn't do anything about, but Alec played bloody well, and dealt with Murali excellently.

Alec's been under a bit of pressure in the press, but quite frankly, he has nothing to prove – certainly not to this dressing-room. And as for Butch, he's flying at the moment. He's looking composed at the crease, and has started to convert those flashy 20s and 30s into hundreds. We always knew he had it in him, and now he's set himself a benchmark.

This match isn't safe yet – you can never count Sri Lanka out when they've got Murali in their line-up – but with all this bad weather it's heading that way. But there may yet be a bit of drama on Monday afternoon. We'll have to wait and see.

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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