Nottingham: England captain Andrew Strauss has warned his side to wait for more difficult days ahead as they seek to wrap up a series success over the West Indies.
Strauss's men go into the 2nd leg of a 3-match series, which gets underway at Trent Bridge here on Friday, with a 1-0 lead after a 5-wicket win at Lord’s. But the West Indies took England the world's leading Test side, into the 5th day at Lord's and twice made they stumble in chase of a win target of 191.It was very hard work that's forever the case with Test match cricket, Strauss told Sky Sports at Trent Bridge here on Thursday.
Often it's hard work to get on top of the resistance and often it's hard work to nail that last nail in coffin. The West Indies put up a really good fight, there's times when they made life hard for us and we were relieve to a certain coverage to get over the line and succeed that game, but we're also aware we have to do it again this week if we want to win, added opening batsman Strauss, who ended his 18-month wait for a Test century at Lord's.
Alastair Cook (79) and Ian Bell (63 not out) saw England to successes at Lord's after they were in trouble at 57 for four, while the 1st Test was a personal triumph for seamer Stuart Broad, who takes 11 wickets in the match. That target was tricky and there was a time when we were beneath a bit of pressure and Alastair Cook and Ian Bell deal with that very well, and that's very important, said Strauss.
There were some really good performances from our side. Clearly Stuart Broad bowled exceptionally well; most of the batters got a score in the game, so I think we're sensitivity in pretty good form heading into this match. But as I said before, we don't want to get ahead of ourselves, it's going to be very hard work this week, and matches here are always hard fought."While England consider whether to alter their seam attack, after all-rounder Tim Bresnan manages just one for 144 at Lord's, the West Indies will be compulsory into at least one change.
Fast bowler Shannon Gabriel, who took 4 wickets on debut at Lord's, was then ruled out of the rest of the series with a back injury. His absence could see the return of fellow fast Ravi Rampaul, who would have played at Lord's but for a neckline problem. Last year-and-a-half Ravi has been the guy who always takes wickets with the new ball for us, captain Darren Sammy. The way Kemar Roach is bowling and the insertion of Ravi, which could be a very good grouping for us.
And the tourists -- who in 22 matches against Nottinghamshire and England dating back to 1906 have never lost a first-class fixture at Trent Bridge, a run counting four wins and four draws in 8 Tests -- could recall off-spinner Shane Shillingford.The Dominican was left out at Lord's, despite taking 10 wickets in his earlier Test against Australia on home soil in Roseau last month. But Sammy said he could return as West Indies look to develop on a record of just 2 wins in their last 31 Tests.
Most definitely, we'll think playing Shilling ford," Sammy said. Looking at our attack, playing on flat pitch over the last year or so, a spinner has always been in our line-up, and we've gone with the fast men and me, and that has been successful for us. So we'll absolutely consider that and hopefully we can go out there and take 20 wickets against England.
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