Nasser Hussain's retirement from cricket on Thursday was a typically decisive, and apparently selfless, move from someone who will be remembered as the finest England captain of his era.

Having silenced his critics with a gutsy century to guide England to victory over New Zealand on Monday, it would have been fair to assume he would complete the four matches which would make him the eighth Englishman to play a century of Tests.

Also Read Hussain calls it a day A hosanna for Hussain

But Hussain has always had the capacity for the unpredictable -- whether with his shock resignation as Test captain last year, his field placings or his decision to bat first in an Ashes Test in 2002 that earned him the soubriquet "Insane Hussain" in one newspaper.

His 5,764 runs in his 96 Tests, scored at an average of 37.18 with 14 centuries and 33 half-centuries, place him 12th in the list of English test run-makers.

But it will be for his contribution as England captain from 1999 to 2003 that Hussain will be best remembered.

When he took over from Alec Stewart, England were rated last in the Test rankings and his reign started poorly with series defeats by New Zealand and South Africa.

But, working alongside coach Duncan Fletcher, Hussain rallied his players and they won four series in a row for the first time since the days when Mike Brearley was captain in the 1970s.

A victory over Zimbabwe was followed by beating West Indies for the first since 1969, a first win in Pakistan for 38 years and another triumph in Sri Lanka to put England back in the top three of Test-playing nations.

Astute, articulate, energetic, full of ideas and always doggedly committed, Hussain's stock rose with his team's success and he was soon acknowledged as the best England skipper since Brearley.

There were still a couple of drubbings at the hands of Australia in the Ashes series of 2001 and 2002-2003, but when his own batting form dipped his place in the side was never in doubt such was the respect for his captaincy.

His stewardship of the one-day team was less assured and he relinquished that role after a disappointing 2003 World Cup -- a disappointment not tempered by the politics surrounding England's boycott of their match against Zimbabwe.

Then last July, after guiding the team to a draw in the first Test of a series against South Africa, he suddenly quit the captaincy and was replaced by Michael Vaughan.

INDIAN ORIGINS

As his name would indicate, Hussain's origins were in the Indian sub-continent and he was born in Madras in 1968.

When he was young his family moved to England and he was raised in Essex, the county he has represented throughout his first-class career.

After assiduous work on his batting technique to make it more suited to the demands of Test cricket, he made his debut for England against West Indies in Jamaica in 1990, although it was six years before he established himself in the side with successive Test centuries against India.

He turned the aggression of his early days, which earned him a reputation as a firebrand who looked after himself in run-out situations, into a fierce commitment to the England team.

When explaining his decision to resign the captaincy last year and quit Test cricket on Thursday, he cited the interests of the team as his main motivation.

"It was a very special day for me today and I'd hate to go out of the game just playing a few more games and getting by and seeing other people who have done well being left out," he said after his unbeaten 103 at Lord's on Monday.