COLOMBO - Australia has gifted England an Ashes leverage point by leaving Steve and Mark Waugh out of the one-day cricket side, according to England captain Nasser Hussain.

Hussain, in Colombo for the Champions Trophy, suggested the Waugh twins' places in the Australian Test team were tenuous - something the English could exploit.

The England skipper said he was dubious when he first heard the veteran pair had been left out of the Australian one-day team but could now see the logic to it.

"When I first heard it, I thought 'that's a bit harsh ... it sounds a bit early'," Hussain said.

"But then I came over here and saw the Australian one-day squad and they all looked a young, athletic, fresh sort of side and I thought 'it's not a bad idea, they're going to be a good side for a little while yet and it probably was a decent move'."

As a result he sees the brothers under a little bit of pressure to hold down their Test spots.

"With the Test side ... to be honest, we've got enough problems of our own without worrying about the Australia side," he said.

"But whoever we come up against we have to believe that the night before, or the day of, the game they'll be nervous.

"Whether it be the Waugh brothers or whoever's taking their place.

"At least there's something to work on there now, the Australians have given us that.

"If [the Waugh brothers] play they'll be under a little bit of pressure because some people will be saying why have we gone back to the Waugh brothers.

"Or, with whoever comes, if it's a younger lad, he's going to be under a bit of pressure because he's taking Mark or Steve Waugh's place."

Hussain also believes the English will be better equipped to deal with Shane Warne this summer thanks to the coaching of Duncan Fletcher.

"We've had good success playing against Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble," he said.

"It will be our greatest challenge because our record against Warne is poor.

"But there's no reason, if we've played Harbhajan and Kumble so well, that we can't go over and play Warne well.

"The main difference Duncan Fletcher's made is technically, his understanding of batting.

"Biomechanically, where people pick up their bat, where they're going to hit the ball, playing of spin and angles, where you can sweep and where you can't sweep.

"He understands, more than any coach I've been associated with, the actual mechanics of the game of cricket.

"That has really helped our game."

© 2002 AAP

This report does not necessarily represent the views of the Australian Cricket Board.