"You don't lose anything by (fielding a young side). What are we going to lose?," the captain told a news conference in Sydney. "We've lost a few games to Australia already so I'd rather look at that the other way.
"You know, go in there with the freshness of youth and let's have a look. We just have to make sure that, character-wise, everyone who wants to go out there on Friday believes that they can beat Australia.
"If there is a fresh young body that we feel can do that, we've got to give him that opportunity.
"Without giving you a great headline, it can't be any worse than how it's gone in the last couple of months, so give people their opportunities."
Hussain's side arrived in Australia eight weeks ago and have failed to score a single victory in 11 matches so far, including massive losses in the three Ashes Tests and an embarrassing four-wicket loss to an invitational Australia Prime Minister's XI in Canberra on Tuesday.
England face world champions Australia in the opening
Hussain, 34, said the morning newspapers could provide England with the motivation they needed.
"Just by...occasionally reading the headlines and going out there and trying to prove people wrong (could be motivation enough)," Hussain said.
"There's a lot worse things you could be doing than going out there on Friday in front of a full SCG (Sydney Cricket Ground) to play against one of the best sides in the world and trying to prove people wrong."
Hussain said he was disappointed his side had not played to their ability.
"Unfortunately we haven't played how we can (on this tour), or we've not been allowed to play how we can," he said.
England have suffered a series of injury mishaps on the tour with pace bowlers Darren Gough, Simon Jones and Chris Silverwood being sent home while Andrew Flintoff, John Crawley, Ashley Giles and Andrew Caddick have all missed matches.
Off-spinner Jeremy Snape was ruled out for three weeks after breaking his thumb while batting in a one-day match against New South Wales in Sydney on December 6.
© 2025