ENGLAND held their regular pre-series open morning for the media on Sunday. Each squad member was assigned a table and sat for an hour at the beck and call of the press. These sessions are not quite the purgatory they sound. For those with any gumption, they provide open space to spin a particular message, whatever the line of inquiry.

With his Indian roots, Nasser Hussain continues to attract most interest, even after his return to the ranks. Journalists stood three or four rows back to listen and scribble and the newspapers here yesterday were full of his thoughts before England’s first Test match against Bangladesh, which was due to begin early this morning.

There are times when answering questions must seem like manning a production line or facing an over from Shaun Pollock. The subject knows what will be asked and can trot out an answer as if by rote. If Michael Vaughan, Hussain’s successor, has said once that he needs to score runs as captain, he must have sighed it a hundred times.

Occasionally, the same question can meet different replies. In his first round of interviews, Rikki Clarke described his bowling as “very weak”, but in the second batch suggested merely that “it is not quite there yet”. Such improvement in so little time; Clarke has a big future.

Whatever the semantics, this is a serious issue where England’s team-building is concerned. Clarke’s talent has been obvious to anyone who has watched him bat or field for Surrey, but an England team in which he features alongside Andrew Flintoff at No 6 and No 7 is plausible only if he develops his weaker suit.

The obvious way to do this would be to bowl for Surrey. Last season, that did not happen much. Frustration that first took hold when he was omitted after scoring a hundred in April returned when his bowling became dormant after a promising introduction to the England one-day fold.

“During the month away in the one-day series, my bowling improved a hundred times more than it had with Surrey,” he said. “I do need to bowl more for my England career to progress.” If opportunities for Surrey fail to arise next summer, he will consider asking to be freed from a contract that is not due to expire until 2007.

On a wider level, he needs to be managed with kid gloves, for the impression of confidence that comes from what Vaughan once described as Clarke’s “Surrey strut” is superficial. “I have worried about what other people think of me and that has sometimes stopped me playing my natural game,” Clarke said. “Even when I know I have been doing the right thing I have wondered what the coach is thinking, or what people will say if I get out playing a certain shot. I haven’t really had that confidence to play cricket my way.”

It boils down to this: he is human and he needs to be loved.

BANGLADESH (from): Khaled Mahmood (captain), Javed Omar, Rajin Saleh, Aftab Ahmed, Hannan Sarkar, Mushfiqur Rahmar, Habibul Bashar, Alok Kapali, Mohammad Rafique, Tapash Baisya, Khaled Mashud, Mashrafe Mortzaza, Enamul Haque Jr.

ENGLAND (from): M P Vaughan (captain), M E Trescothick, M A Butcher, N Hussain, G P Thorpe, R Clarke, P D Collingwood, C M W Read, G J Batty, A F Giles, R L Johnson, M J Hoggard, S J Harmison.

Umpires: E A R de Silva (Sri Lanka) and Aleem Dar (Pakistan).

TELEVISION: Sky Sports 2: 4am-11.30am, live coverage. Sky Sports 1: 4pm-7pm; 11pm-2am, highlights.

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