'England's time-wasting tactics were amateur and embarrassing'

Agreeing with Ricky Ponting, former England captain Nasser Hussain on Tuesday joined the chorus in criticising England's time-wasting tactics in the drawn Ashes opener, saying it was an "amateur and embarrassing" exercise on the home team's part.

"What Ponting objected to is the way England went about their time-wasting and in that sense I would have to agree with him. For 99.9 per cent of that gripping day, they did as much as possible within the laws and spirit of the game to save the first Test - but right at the end they crossed the line," Hussain said.

"When the 12th man and physio came on at the same time, they went too far. It wasn't a streetwise move at all, it was village-green stuff. It was amateur and embarrassing to watch. And it was bad for the game - more like diving to win a penalty than delaying a throw-in," he wrote in his column in the Daily Mail.

Hussain, a veteran of 96 Tests and 88 one-dayers, however did not feel England were at fault in making an attempt to win the high-stake match against Australia but said Andrew Strauss men should have went about it in a more subtle manner.

"Any professional sports team in the world will do whatever it takes to win or save a high stake match, so time-wasting is an everyday fact of life. But it's important to go about it in a streetwise, subtle way," Hussain said.

"Just look at football. If a side is holding on to a one-goal lead in the World Cup final and they win a throw, the player who takes it won't be in a rush. He will drop the ball, wipe it on his shirt and then dither as if he is struggling to find someone to throw it to. That is all frustrating for the opposition, but it is part and parcel of the game," he explained.

"Cricket is no different. Every captain and every player in every country will do whatever it takes to get a result, including Ricky Ponting. He will understand exactly why England were doing anything they could to slow down proceedings in Cardiff on Sunday evening - this is an Ashes series and it means a huge amount to a lot of people." 

Hussain said although it did not spoil the Ashes classic but it made the end of the match look farcical. 

"Watching the 12th man run on with gloves, followed by a physio who wasn't needed because no one was injured, looked terrible and it didn't even waste much time. It didn't spoil a classic Test match but it did lead to a slightly farcical finish, which was a shame.

"If I were Ponting, I would have been angry, too, and would have told the physio to get off. In those situations, England have just got to be smarter. What they did at the end there was ridiculously obvious: they might as well have held up a giant banner saying: 'We're time-wasting.' Instead, they need the batsmen in the middle to be more alert to the state of the match and to react accordingly," Hussain said.

"Let's get one thing clear: Jimmy Anderson and Monty Panesar were heroes for the way they held out for 40 minutes at the end to stop Australia taking a 1-0 series lead. It was fantastic to watch them bat with such composure and courage like that, but they just needed to show a touch more nous, to run down the clock in more subtle ways. 

"Management of the situation shouldn't have to come from the dressing room but too often it does with this England team," he added.