November 14 Thursday 2002
'England players to be more nervous for Adelaide Test'

PERTH: Champion legspinner Shane Warne has chipped away at the England tourists, predicting they will be even more nervous in next week's second Ashes cricket Test in Adelaide.

England captain Nasser Hussain admitted his players were nervous on the opening day of the first Test match at Brisbane's Gabba ground where they were humiliated by 384 runs. Warne joined Australian captain Steve Waugh and paceman Glenn McGrath by attempting to further undermine the tourists' confidence by firing yet another 
verbal salvo.

England are yet to win in five tour outings in Australia this summer and will have to produce a massive turnaround to avoid slumping to their eighth consecutive Ashes series loss. "They will be more nervous in the next one after going one-nil down and going to Adelaide," Warne said here on Wednesday. "I'd like to think they will be even more nervous."

The second Ashes Test begins on November 21 at the Adelaide Oval. The England team minus Hussain, who is in Perth to be with his pregnant wife Karen, will look to turn around their dismal tour in a three-day match against Australia A in Hobart starting on Friday.

But Warne said he didn't believe a full-time sports psychologist would necessarily ease the tourists' woes. "Some guys get something out of it, a lot of guys don't need it, to use it depends on how you are mentally and what you want to achieve out of it," he said.