THE second test match between England and Pakistan promises glorious weather and excellent cricket.

I am however at a loss to understand the outburst of England captain Nasser Hussein, in a Sunday paper, as to why Asian-origin youngsters still support cricket teams from Pakistan and India. He may have said this because the game had not sold as many tickets as anticipated by last week or he is troubled as to why British-born Asians have not assimilated as he has and prefer to support teams from India and Pakistan rather than England.

This involves questions about one's identity which results from a mixture of race, religion, culture, language, customs, food and experience.

There are a number of reasons why the overwhelming majority of Pakistanis and Indians, or people of Caribbean origin, support Indian, Pakistani or West Indies.

I suspect this also applies to long-standing British residents of Australian and South African origins, who no doubt take equal delight in supporting Australia and South Africa.

Nasser may have turned the England team around but his unhelpful foray into questioning people's identities marks him out as someone who, (although he has a Muslim name and is connected to India by birth) appears totally divorced from ordinary Asian people in this country.

I am sure, he would not ask expatriate Brits to not support England when they play in the Gulf States, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Australia, South Africa or the Caribbean.

Young British Asians born in this country, live and abide by its laws and also have access to their parent's countries of origin and can feel proud of belonging to societies which have different outlook and value judgement than Britain.

Someone else has also pointed out that the Asian supporter goes to cricket to have fun, see some of the world's best cricketers in action, rather than watch the finer points of a relatively tedious cricket match.

We should be happy to let people define themselves in different ways and let them associate themselves with teams, (which not only give them pleasure but heartache as well, remember the first test), and accept this without questioning their motives or loyalty to British society.