Hussain lambasts ICC for handling of Zimbabwe crisis

Freed from the constraints of his ECB contract, Nasser Hussain has launched his career as a Sky TV commentator with a stinging attack on the ICC for their handling of the Zimbabwe crisis. His words are sure to have an impact on his former team-mates' decisions, when they are asked later this year to tour the country.

Hussain, who resigned the one-day captaincy after last year's World Cup before throwing in the towel completely two months' later, has described the ICC's actions during the World Cup as "diabolical", adding that it was "a low point for world cricket, the ICC and the ECB".

"I can't see how any side, Test or one-day, could possibly go to Zimbabwe and play cricket now," he said during an interview on Sky. "There are a multitude of reasons - from the moral down to the fact that you're not playing against their best side. And that's just about selection of their team, let alone everything else that's going on behind the scenes in the country."

At the height of England's World Cup crisis last year, Hussain had an angry confrontation with Malcolm Speed, the ICC's chief executive, whom he accused of "hanging his team out to dry". An apology was subsequently offered by the ECB, but without Hussain's knowledge, which merely infuriated him even further.

"People would come into our room and say 'whatever happens you're going to Zimbabwe, it doesn't matter what's happening or what you think, we're taking you there'," said Hussain. "The way they went about it and their attitude since about the whole thing has been very poor. I think if you go round asking people in general about what they think about it, they would agree."