It is a feat only best players tend to achieve.If his approach to batting caused some controversy, his decision to come off for bad light at the third offer also attracted criticism from some quarters. Now we've achieved that for the second Test in a row."Asked if he had perhaps batted too slowly at times, especially on the first day, Hussain replied: "We need different people to bat at different tempos to make a good side."More importantly, and a point thrown into sharp relief by Stewart's superb offering, Hussain made runs when clearly not on top of his game. When you win the toss, you need to make in excess of 350, which we've not done recently. Perhaps being born in Madras, a fairly hot and steamy place itself, helped to stir something previously untapped in cooler climes and considering he had probably sweated his own body weight over the last two days, he looked far from distressed."I'm pretty tired but I'm pleased with the position we're in. By the time he was fourth man out for 95, lbw to Nantie Hayward, there were only 15 runs in it. It was a cruel moment for the man who had almost single-handedly justified England's cautious efforts on the first day.
His innings, though, did take him past Australia's Mark Waugh as the batsman who has made most runs in the 1990s.Afterwards Hussain had nothing but fulsome praise for his senior player. "The plan with the early start was to wear them down, but Alec played one of the best innings I've seen by him. He took the pressure off me and batted beautifully."Speaking of his own feat, Hussain felt the heat and humidity had made the test more physical than mental. Those were left to Alec Stewart, whose 95 runs in 149 balls stood out like Shergar among a herd of donkeys.Stewart, who came in after Darren Maddy had failed to add to his overnight score, conceded a five-hour and 54-run start to his captain. The spinner would have to last until well after lunch for him to supplant the leader of the pack, Len Hutton, whose 364 against Australia at The Oval in 1938 took 797 minutes.England have treated this match like a foxtrot, with their captain leading in all but the quick bits.
Boycott later told anyone who would listen that he once got dropped after scoring 200 against India in the time it took Hussain to score one. If he bats for any length of time this morning, Hussain may yet overtake Atherton and possibly Clive Radley (648 minutes for 158 against New Zealand in 1977/78), though much will depend on the support from the last man, Phil Tufnell. Hussain's innings, curtailed when bad light and rain ended play an hour early, was a monument of discipline and self-denial. It takes the captain into fifth place between Michael Atherton (643 minutes at Johannesburg four years ago) and Geoff Boycott (629 minutes for his 100th hundred at Headingley in 1977) as England's leading occupiers of the crease. So far his unbeaten 146, his eighth Test century, has lasted exactly 10 hours and 35 minutes, a feat of mental and physical endurance that would have been worth double had England gained control of this match.