Nasser Hussain feels that the turning point in England’s 2002 Natwest Series final against India came when umpire Steve Bucknor replaced the existing ball with a different one, trampling their plans of reverse swinging their way to a win.
Speaking on the Sky Sports Cricket Podcast ‘One That Got Away’, Hussain, who was the England captain then, explained that he had been holding back his swing bowlers for the ball to get old enough to reverse.
“The biggest thing that happened is we got this ball reverse swinging, and Steve Bucknor looked at it and said ‘It looks too soft and discoloured, and I am going to change this ball. It’s too discoloured,” Hussain said.
Barring spinner Ashley Giles, none of the bowlers finished with an economy rate of less than six, as Kaif and Yuvraj’s stroke-filled 121-run stand sparked a revival.
“The moment those two started to hit boundaries, the Indian crowd was woken up, we went from almost silence to the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai.”
