We will face an improved Indian team in the next Test: Strauss
July 26th, 2011 - 12:54 am ICT by IANSLondon, July 25 (IANS) England skipper Andrew Strauss called it an “outstanding” victory over India in the first cricket Test at Lord’s but said they are prepared to face an improved No.1 side in the remainder of the four-Test series.
England defeated India by 196 runs on the fifth day of the 2000th Test.
Strauss heaped praise on his bowlers for a disciplined showing in tough fifth day conditions.
“Outstanding,” said a smiling Strauss. “KP’s innings was one of the best I’ve seen by an England batsmen in the recent time. (Stuart) Broad came back well. The wicket was flat, we had to build pressure and stick to it. It’s always tough to bowl sides out here on the fifth day, if you’re going to do it, you have to be very disciplined and I can’t praise the bowlers highly enough.”
“They stuck to the last and got what they deserved.”
Strauss said the first day morning conditions were the toughest he had batted here and felt that their first innings total of 474 gave them the control of the match.
“It was very tough batting conditions on the first morning, as tough as I’ve encountered here. (Jonathan) Trott batted brilliantly on the the first day and once we got the score of 474 in the first innings, we were in control,” he said.
“We backed ourselves to bowl teams out, we back ourselves to get 20 wickets. It’s hard work on flat wickets but we expect to do that.”
England now lead the four Test series 1-0 but Strauss said they still have a lot of work to do.
“India are a very, very good side, they showed glimpses of that this game and they’ll improve as the series continues. We will have to raise our games. Yes, we are 1-0 up but we still have a lot of work to do.”
Man of the match Pietersen said the victory reminded his 2005 Ashes.
“The victory is brilliant for the team,” said Pietersen.
“But we know that it is just one out of four. It will be a tough job to dominate this Indian team. It reminded me of 2005 at Old Trafford, it was a special occasion. We seem to have covered all bases in this team,” he said.
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Tags: andrew strauss, bowlers, cricket test, england skipper, fifth day, glimpses, India, jonathan, kp, match, remainder, score, series 1, test series, tough job, traf, trott, victory, wicket, wickets