Law: Nasser criticism fired us all up

STUART LAW singled out his former Essex team-mate Nasser Hussain yesterday as West Indies followed their extraordinary win at Headingley by responding to the criticism that had rained down on them after their Edgbaston capitulation. The combative West Indies coach was asked yesterday at Lord’s — where the Investec series decider begins tomorrow — specifically about comments made by former England captain Hussain in his Sportsmail column after the fourth day of the second Test. It looked as though West Indies had thrown away a winning position in a sloppy last session as England declared on 490. Writing before Law’s side successfully chased 322 on the final day, Hussain said that, while West Indies excel at Twenty20, Test cricket demands more, physically and mentally. ‘The beauty of Test cricket is that it pushes you across five days. One bad session and you’re in trouble — especially against a side like England,’ he wrote. That was enough to prompt a response from Australian Law, who said: ‘Nasser’s entitled to his opinion but people make assumptions all the time. ‘He doesn’t know this group of players. He doesn’t even know me, even though I played with him at Essex. He doesn’t know the characters that are inside that dressing room. We probably didn’t make the greatest decisions on day four but never once did I believe that a Twenty20 mindset was part of it. ‘Not a lot of these players play T20 cricket anyway. I think it was great we sent him a big humble pie to go and chomp on in the commentary box.’