Defeated skipper Strauss not ready to discuss changes
Ian Bell is close to getting dropped
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An abysmal fourth day showing from England in the first Test against the West Indies saw the visitors dismissed for 51 as they fell to an innings defeat. |  |
Sunday, 08, Feb 2009 09:00
Beleaguered England captain Andrew Strauss has refused to confirm if any batsmen will get dropped after the disastrous defeat at the hands of the West Indies.
England were all out for a calamitous 51, with only Andrew Flintoff getting into double figures. Ian Bell is the batsman under the most pressure as his place was in doubt coming into the first Test and scores of 28 and 4 will do nothing to help him remain in the side.
Bell however was not the only culprit in the batting department.
Strauss and his opening partner Alastair Cook were twice out for single figure scores, while Paul Collingwood scored 17 runs in the match. Owais Shah is the reserve batsman and scored a century in one of the warm-up games.
Strauss felt that batsmen had the quality to bounce back and reflected that his team's failure to handle the pressure was the reason they lost.
"Now's not the time to be too hasty on these things and we haven't played well," said Strauss. "As a batting unit there are very few positives to come out of this match. As a unit we haven't been good enough and we've got to take it on the chin and move on.
"We haven't done ourselves justice, it's as simple as that. I thought the bowlers stuck to their task pretty well in some tough conditions. We batted pretty poorly today and we paid the price."
He added: "The reality is that if you want to win matches then you have to absorb that type of pressure and come out the other side. We didn't do that today."
England now have five days to lick their wounds and prepare to fight back in the second Test which kicks off in Barbados on Thursday. Strauss had told his players to remember how they are feeling now after the defeat and "come out the other side".