Adelaide: England captain Nasser Hussain has backed his team to turn things around against the rampant Australians in this week's second Test after its disastrous opening Ashes defeat.

England got off to the worst possible start to breaking its Ashes run of outs with a humiliating 384-run towelling in the Gabba Test and must perform in Adelaide to keep the five-match series alive.

Hussain rejoined the tourists on Tuesday after travelling to Perth to be with his wife Karen for the birth of his son Joel on Monday. "On Monday I was in hospital all day and sometimes you need to get away and have a re-think," Hussain said at a press conference on Tuesday.

"But if anyone knows me there is only one focus now and that's cricket. I'm not going to hide behind anything. I'm not going to stand here and say 'the cricket has gone really well and we're playing really well'.

"That's not the sort of captain that I am. There have been a lot of injuries and we have not done the basics well. At some time in the tour we have to pinpoint that this is the time we turn things around.

"Individually, someone will go back to their room and say 'I'm going to get (Matthew) Hayden out' or someone like Rob Key says 'I'm going to get 170'.

"I don't mind if it's an individual or a team basis but eventually someone has to say they're going to turn things around."

Veteran wicket-keeper-batsman Alec Stewart sounded pessimistic on Monday as he spoke about his experiences against Australia, revealing he had only one 'meaningful' victory in 30 Ashes Tests.

Stewart is trying to avoid his seventh consecutive losing Ashes series. "I wouldn't worry too much about Alec being down because I know the character. He's always been a fighter," Hussain said.

"Losing becomes a habit and that's a thing we have to get out of here. If a decision goes against us, I have to look around and make sure as captain that people aren't thinking 'here we go again'.

"A lot of us yet haven't shown the character that is needed and I back them to show that. They have done it for me in the past and it needs to come out pretty soon."

Hussain said the best way to beat Australia was to make sure his team got the simple things right. "How are we going to regroup? By making sure we do the basics right on Thursday," Hussain said.

"Cricket is a simple game, if you complicate it too much you start thinking about all these mind games."

Copyright AFP 2001

Extras:
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