Strauss backs England to bounce back
August 25, 2010 14:59:32 UK
Andrew Strauss believes England have a point to prove in the fourth npower Test with Pakistan which starts tomorrow at Lords
And the England captain is confident it will be an advantage to his team as they look to wrap up the series in the final Test.
Match betting for the final Test of the series has England fancied at 1.80, while Pakistan can be backed at 6.00 and the draw is 2.87.
Strauss explained: "We desperately want to win this series. Having gone 2-0 up we want to finish them off.
"It was disappointing the way we played at The Oval. We made some mistakes which we want to put right.
"But there is a nice determined atmosphere. We feel we maybe have a point to prove and that's a good state of mind to be in."
The skipper also admitted he is worried by England's batting display which saw them slip from 194 for three to 222 all out in their second innings in the third Test to give Pakistan a victory chance they accepted.
He continued on Sky Sports News: "The batting is a bit of a concern - we don't want to be collapsing all the time - but it needs putting in context.
"We've sat down and talked about it and it's a case of bringing the game back to the simplest form, backing yourself and earning the right to get on top of the opposition bowlers.
"It's most important not to get carried away doing this wrong or that - it's worked before and it can work again."
On a personal level he added: "Opening the batting has been tough this series.
"I've had a couple of starts, a couple of reasonable innings but I missed out at The Oval. I generally enjoy batting at Lord's so hopefully there's a good score there for me.
"As captain you always want to lead by example but you've got to be realistic: you're not going to score every time you bat otherwise your name would be Don Bradman.
"Your record dictates you'll come back and score runs so the key is not to get to caught up in the whole thing."
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