Injuries an opportunity to blood young talent: Hussain

London, July 25: The injury to some key players might prove to be a handicap for England in the coming Test series, but captain Nasser Hussain saw in it an opportunity for youngsters to make their mark at the international level.

"It is good for English cricket in a way because it is producing cricketers. Hopefully, at the end of the four Tests we will have found out another couple of England cricketers," Hussain told reporters ahead of the first Test against India starting here on Thursday.

England have been plagued with injuries with frontline bowlers Darren Gough, Andrew Caddick and Alex Tudor all set to miss Thursday's Test. Opener Marcus Trescothick has been ruled out for the entire Test series due to a broken thumb.

But Hussain said the situation was nothing new for England who have seldom been able to field their strongest side.

"It is not just injuries. We have had situations of people making themselves unavailable on tours. It has given us an opportunity to blood young people.

"We went to India without our strongest side. We went to Australia without the strongest side and so was the case on our tour of New Zealand," Hussain said.

One of the youngsters Hussain is betting on is fast bowler Simon Jones who will make his Test debut on Thursday. Hussain confirmed Jones will be in the playing eleven but said he would have to come up with more than just pace to establish himself.

"He has got the pace but any world class batsman will tell you it is not just about pace. It is how you put the ball, how you out-think the batsman," Hussain said.

"When he plays, I will have to stand at mid-off and talk and he would have to learn not to use his pace all the time because that is what the crowd would expect. The country would expect," he said.

"We don't want him to get carried away."

Hussain said it was good that Gough's knee injury surfaced during a county game and not in a midst of a Test match which could have limited England's options.

"Gough hasn't played a first class game for nearly a year now. And you can't risk him in a Test match. Whenever it happens now, Darren would have to go off and play county cricket.

"Whatever happened in the county game, could easily have happened here in the Test," he said, adding that from now on every injured cricketer would have to prove his fitness in county games before being considered for Test matches.

"He would have to bowl two or three days all out to be considered for selection. The same applies to Caddick and Tudor," Hussain said.

However, the case of Graham Thorpe, who has been out of action for personal reasons, was diffferent, Hussain said.

"He is like Michael Atherton. He could go without playing for a year and then in a big match he would get a hundred straight away."

Hussain said people like Gough and Thorpe needed careful handling. "People like them don't come often. So you have to handle them as carefully as can."

Hussain also said that it would be a toss-up between Dominic Cork and Craig White for the place of the fourth paceman.

"It is probably going to come down to Cork or White. White is a batsman who plays spin extremely well and got a hundred against India. Cork is for the new ball option if the weather supports swing bowling," he said.

Hussain predicted the track at Lord's was flat and could help spin at various stages of the game though not substantially.

"I think the pitch would be flat at various times and therefore you would need a spinner. If the weather is very hot it could take spin but not prominently. Therefore we would need the variation."

Hussain defended his left-arm spinner Ashley Giles' tactics of bowling outside the leg-stump, saying "Giles will bowl the way I have always wanted him to bowl to take wickets".