Thaindian News

Chennai, March 6 (IANS) England skipper Andrew Strauss said his team would benefit from the close and tense win against South Africa here Sunday as it would better prepare the players for the tougher battles ahead in the cricket World Cup.

England, dismissed for 171, snatched a dramatic six-run win against South Africa to put their World Cup campaign back on track.

“It was a huge game for us and we needed to show some character. It obviously prepares the team for the later stages of this tournament,” he said during the post-match media conference.

Strauss opined that although they did not have enough runs on the board, he was confident that the total was defendable given the pitch conditions that his counterpart Graeme Smith had said was inconsistent in bounce.

“It was a difficult to pitch to bat on with inconsistent bounce and it broke up much for a one-day game. Also, the ball was reversing and I thought both Stuart Broad (4 for 15) and Jimmy Anderson (2 for 16) showed a lot of skills.

“You don’t play on pitches like this every day, but such pitches make for entertainment,” Strauss said.

The England skipper said that even when the South Africans were cruising along during the chase with Grame Smith and Hashim Amla putting on 63 runs for the first wicket, there was still a chance for them to pull off a win.

“Smith was struggling to deal with Greame Swann and we needed to get on a roll and put them under pressure which we did,” he said.

Commenting on the England innings, Strauss chastised himself for losing his wicket in the very first over, followed by two more that put the team under pressure.

“Losing three early wickets was criminal, but (Ravi) Bopara and Trotty (Jonathan Trott) batted well. It is not often that you can defend 171, but I thought Swanny (Graeme Swann) bowled well while Jimmy (Anderson) and Stuart (Broad) were able to reverse,”he pointed out.

On selecting Ravi Bopara, who was declared man of the match for his knock of 60, ahead of experienced former captain Paul Collingwood, Strauss said it was a tough call.

“It (Bopara) was a great selection wasn’t it? Seriously, it was a tough call, but he (Collingwood) will have a role to play in this tournament when there is bounce and movement,” Strauss said.

On his part, Bopara, who was involved in a 99-run partnership for the fourth wicket with Trott, felt that the Man of the Match should have been awarded to Broad.

“I thought the Man of the Match should have gone to Stuart Broad. We thought 200 would be a good score and knew that the ball would reverse, but we had it covered.

“We (he and Trott) needed to be patient because it was not easy to bat on this pitch. You need to back yourself batting on different wickets,” said Bopara who is known to be a free-scoring batsman rather than a plodder that he was Sunday.