Hussain delight at "magnificent" England

Manchester, June 17: England captain Nasser Hussain was full of praise for his players after they clinched a dramatic ten wicket victory against Sri Lanka in the Third Test here at Old Trafford on Monday.

After making Sri Lanka follow-on and bowling them out for 308, England were left needing 50 to win from the last six overs of the final day.

Openers Marcus Trescothick and Michael Vaughan saw England home with six balls to spare as the light began to fade.

The result gave England the series 2-0 - their first series victory in five Test campaigns.

Asked if he could believe what had happened Hussain replied: "Some wins are more unbelieveable than others.

"The last couple of days, well I don't think I've seen an England side play better.

"To bowl them out for 253 and 308 on a wicket like that without Andrew Caddick (off the field Sunday and Monday with a side strain) is quite magnificent.

"We've played on three sub-continental wickets, apart from the first day at Edgbaston. A few years ago we wouldn't have known what to do.

"That's why I'm so proud of my team. It was like playing in Sri Lanka (where England won a Test series 2-1 on their last visit in 2000-01)."

Hussain also paid tribute to man-of-the-match Alex Tudor. The Surrey fast bowler finished with match figures of seven for 109 on a docile pitch.

"Andrew Flintoff and Matthew Hoggard (England's other young quicks) don't surprise me anymore. They've put the hard yards in for their country.

"But Tudor did surpise me. In this match he stepped up to the plate."

Hussain added that the input of coach Duncan Fletcher had been vital, particularly in neutralising the threat of Sri Lanka's leading bowler, off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan.

"A lot of credit must go to Duncan Fletcher. To watch him working with individual batsmen, helping them adapt their games to play Muralitharan was quite something," Hussain explained.

As for the run chase Hussain conceded it had been a close call. "We were down to our last two overs. Fifty off six is a different game to 55 off four.

"We had eight players padded up. I thought it would come down to me and Graham Thorpe in the dark."

Disappointed Sri Lanka coach Dav Whatmore said: "I thought we batted well enough today to deserve a draw."

But captain Sanath Jayasuriya said the team had been undone by the overall failure of the top order to make major contributions.

"We had batsmen getting 20s or 30s, not big scores and that's not acceptable," said Jayasuriya whose best score in the series was 35.

However, he did exempt Russel Arnold, who top scored in both innings with 62 and 109 respectively after being promoted to opener, from criticism.

"Russel played really well. I think his future is as an opener now."

Meanwhile Whatmore insisted there was more to his bowling attack than Muralitharan, who twice had innings stints of 60 overs or more in the two Tests he played after coming back from a shoulder injury.

"I think we played extremely well to cover the absence of Murali in the first game. There wasn't a lot between the attacks.

 "But it's very hard to defend a total of 162 like we had to at Edgbaston (where England won the Second Test by an innings and 111 runs)."

 Sri Lanka have been plagued by bad weather on this tour but Jayasuriya added: "That's no excuse. We played well in the First Test. We need more application."