Nasser Hussain described his eleventh hour call-up to England's cricket World Cup squad as "fantastic."

The talented Essex skipper said he could not believe his luck when he received the call he had been hoping for from England's chairman of selectors David Graveney around tea-time on Wednesday afternoon.

Hussain said: "I was standing around Chelmsford with a mobile phone to my ear for most of the afternoon waiting to hear if it was me or Mark Ramprakash who was going to get the call.

"I knew it was between me and Ramps. David Graveney came through with the news I wanted to hear at quarter-to-five last night."

Surprisingly left out of the original 15-man squad, Hussain cast aside his personal joy in being selected as Michael Atherton's replacement to demonstrate his great concern at his friend's injury problems.

"I'm naturally disappointed for Athers and, for Ramps as well," he said.

"But my disappointment at being left out of the squad in the first place was tempered by the fact that in the past two years I have only been looked upon as a sub for Graham Thorpe in one-day cricket anyway.

"If was an England Test series I had been omitted from I would be furious, but now I am just delighted to be part of the World Cup plans."

He will now join the rest of the squad in Sharjah on Monday ahead of their involvement in the Coca-Cola Cup against Pakistan and India.

But the manner of his selection has left a bitter-sweet taste in Hussain's mouth.

He said: "I thought I had played well enough in Australia during the winter to have won a place, so the last month or so has been somewhat up and down for me.

"I had forgotten all about England to throw myself into Essex's plans and build-up to the new season and in many ways I've still very much got my county head on.

"Switching to England won't be difficult for me though. I have been switching from county to country throughout my career.

"Now I will be trying my hardest to cement my place in the England set-up once and for all."

Hussain's departure will be a big blow to Essex, but the England star is confident his understudy Ronnie Irani will hold the fort well

"Ronnie has graduated from foot soldier to General in a matter of weeks. But he is more than big enough for the task and Essex cricket is in good hands."

But Graveney stressed: "After that innings in Sydney he put his hand up and said 'it's my fault' - but unfortunately sport is based around human error.

"My explanation to him was that he was in that party as a replacement for Graham Thorpe and we were basing our middle order around Graeme Hick, Graham Thorpe and Neil Fairbrother for the World Cup.

"You can't look at every area, but we were looking to pick one of our better technical players in Michael Atherton and unfortunately he is now out of the equation and we have replaced him with another technical player.

"But I would say the way he reacted in Sydney was totally out of character.

"He's always very good on the field and is quite rightly regarded very highly tactically, which is why he is captain of his county and vice-captain of his country."

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