"We must find reasons behind defeat"

by S M August 10, 2009

"As a group of 11 players we have to stand up and take it on the chin and say that was far below the level where we think we should be playing at.

"We need to learn lessons from it and make sure we don't make those mistakes again. We've had a lot of circumstances in the past when we've come back well after poor performances and we've got to do that again next week.

"If you look at our batting performances over the past nine Tests or so they've been pretty good. You don't want to be in a situation where you ever get bowled out for 51 or 100 and, to be honest, that is an issue.

"From my point of view I don't think we reacted quickly enough to the conditions or situation or the way the Australians bowled. As a batting unit we need to take that on the chin, ask ourselves were we switched on properly and if we weren't what was the reason for that?

"Those are the sort of calm reflections that we need to make over the coming days before turning our attentions to the Oval Test match and reminding ourselves that it's still 1-1 in the series going into that final Test match." Captain Andrew Strauss said.

"Everyone is capable of getting out and making mistakes, that's the game of cricket for you.

"If you're thinking about wholesale changes I would be very resistant to that, but at the same time we have to make a judgement call about the best 11 players to win that last game.

"We have to find out the fitness of Freddie and where he is at and then obviously the balance of the side is an issue as well. Those are all issues that we have to throw into the melting pot and make sure we're clear on which direction we need to go in come that final Test match."

Strauss said: "If you look at the cricket we've played over the last nine months or so, I would contest that and that's certainly something we don't want to see in the England team.

"If that's something that's happened in the past, that's something we're determined to iron out. There's a lot of strength of character in the side and we're going to need it next week."

"I'll admit I got given a copy of it and had a brief read through it all, but I knew most of it anyway," said Australia captain Ricky Ponting. "It was probably more for the younger guys in our group to have a good feel about some of their players.

"I'm sure they all read every single word that was in the document but we haven't sat down in meetings after that and talked about that - we've been searching and trying to find ways within our own group to play our best cricket.

"I feel the last couple of days of Test cricket here have been the best that we've played this series and given ourselves a blueprint of what we need to do in the next Test."

Ponting added: "It's just amazing how quickly things can change in this game.

"It was only at Lord's a couple of weeks ago that no one thought we had any chance at all of being able to bounce back in this series and here we are now sitting back with everybody doubting everything that England's been doing.

"We've been in total control this week which is something I'm proud of but we've got to make sure we carry that over into next week."