NASSER Hussain's timing wasn't bad during his farewell century, otherwise it has been distinctly awry. He left it very late to run out Andrew Strauss in an attempt to prolong his England career as the newcomer had already done more than enough to ensure his retention.

Then Hussain's decision to go out in a blaze of glory smacked of selfishness at a time when the series still has to be won and there is no guarantee Michael Vaughan will be fit for the second Test.

Hussain quit the captaincy when his South African counterpart, Graeme Smith, was putting England to the sword. But he wanted to be remembered as a good player, which is why he has gone now with the memory of his match-winning century fresh in everyone's mind.

It will soon fade, however, and his place in history will be as part of an alliance with coach Duncan Fletcher which put some steel back into the England team.

The Lord's Test proved that the beauty of this series is that it pits two well-matched sides against each other. It also underlined how ludicrous it is to be playing only three Tests against the Kiwis and four against the West Indies.

History was against England scoring so many to win in the fourth innings. The fact that they managed it was testament to the improving quality of pitches, but also highlighted the Kiwis' weakness, the one-paced nature of their seam attack.

With Stephen Harmison continuing his wonderful form and Simon Jones also impressing, England's bowling looked more incisive. It's just a pity Ashley Giles seems capable only of bowling over the wicket into the rough outside leg stump when any left-arm spinner with confidence in his ability takes the more attacking line round the wicket. It's not his fault if he's the best we've got, and that should be the next big issue for English cricket to address.

PERHAPS Hussain's departure made it a good day for burying bad news. Not that the ECB should have worried too much about any outcry over the departure of Tim Lamb. How he survived the fiasco over England's non-appearance for their World Cup match in Harare is a mystery, and now the poor old counties are taking the blame for making his life intolerable.

It was the same when ex-grocer Lord MacLaurin quit as ECB chairman and he still witters on about things like "corporate governance" when what we really want to know is how we can produce a decent left-arm spinner.

Instead of ridiculous ideas like combining the points from four-day and one-day cricket in one league table, which Lamb supported, people should be talking about producing pitches which help spinners on the last two days, and increasing the penalties for slow over rates caused by too much seam bowling.

JEFF Winter, blowing the whistle on a distinguished career, obviously didn't wish to be remembered as the second North-East referee to send someone off in an FA Cup final. Unlike Peter Willis, who had no hesitation in dismissing Manchester United's Kevin Moran, Winter showed no discontent with Dennis Wise.

Perhaps Winter was reluctant to turn the game into an even bigger mismatch, but Millwall's miserable contribution to what used to be a showpiece occasion was rendered even more unedifying by the appalling antics of their player-manager.

Shoving his hand forcefully into the face of Cristiano Ronaldo and his ill-tempered grappling with Paul Scholes should have brought two yellow cards before the one he was actually shown.

If his bright future in management fails to materialise, Wise can always emulate that other nasty relic from the Crazy Gang, Vinny Jones, by taking up acting.

NO doubt the FA Cup final attracted a vastly bigger audience than rugby's epic Heineken Cup final, in which a French faux pas handed a dramatic victory to Wasps.

Not many years ago any rugby club daring to play after April 30 would do so under threat of annihilation, but this season still hasn't finished with 21 of England's 30-man summer tour squad in action for their clubs in tomorrow's finals.

Clive Woodward, meanwhile, has warned that Jonny Wilkinson could be lost to American football. This is nothing new as you read it here a year ago, and since then I suspect Jonny has become more inclined to stick with rugby.

After playing only 53 minutes for Newcastle this season, he will want a crack at winning the Heineken Cup with them next year, although attempts at building a squad capable of doing that have suffered a couple of hiccups.

Fijian sensation Rupeni Caucaunibuca now looks more likely to go to French club Agen, and another Fijian, Radike Samo, has been named in the Australia squad to play Scotland.

Rob Andrew claims Samo has signed a legally-binding contract with the Falcons, but Samo says he wants to take the chance to play for Australia, who do not pick players who go abroad. We probably haven't heard the end of this.