Cricket: Schedule fears for Hussain

NASSER Hussain fears the heavy schedule of international cricket will harm the game he loves. The England captain, who leads his team into another showdown with India in the ICC Champions Trophy tomorrow, thinks the gruelling calendar will dilute the quality of the game. But there is little danger of that happening this winter as Hussain and Co battle for the Ashes Down Under and then the World Cup in South Africa next February and March.

"Cricket is a game, not just a business," he said. "It is a game to be enjoyed - play your hardest, rest up and a few weeks later play again.

"I have said that to the ICC and people in England. I hope someone somewhere will start listening because otherwise we will have mediocre, going-through-the-motions cricket." England's long list of high- profile injuries to the likes of Darren Gough and Michael Vaughan may have resulted in too much cricket.

But England's form over the past year has convinced Hussain that his side are good enough to beat India in the Pool Two decider at the Premadasa Stadium.

Sourav Ganguly's team have had no such problems during the course of a year which has seen the two countries meet 10 times already in limited-overs matches.

Hussain said: "The side I took to India last winter was not the best - and I thought we did bloody well. "To go over and do what we did was a great effort.

" If you took four key players out the India side, it would have been interesting to see how they would have coped."

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