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Strauss ends tumultuous week with victory

CHENNAI, India - The last few days have been some of his toughest as England captain, Andrew Strauss said on Thursday, after a painful defeat to Bangladesh, his own illness and difficult selection choices ahead of the dramatic World Cup victory over West Indies.

But Strauss — and England — came through it to stay in contention at the tournament with another close-run finish in Chennai.

England fell to a morale-shattering defeat in Chittagong, and Strauss then faced a stomach upset and having to drop of the team’s stalwarts — James Anderson and Paul Collingwood — for the must-win game against West Indies.

“It’s been a tough few days, yes,” Strauss said following the nerve-jangling 18-run win, which keeps England alive. “Trying to get myself and the rest of the lads up after the Bangladesh defeat. I think that hurt us pretty hard.

“Then, obviously falling ill myself and having to make some tough calls, selection-wise, it was tough. We had one more opportunity to show what we could do at this World Cup. None of us wanted to go home tomorrow morning.”

Strauss also pointed to the “mental freshness” of allrounder Luke Wright and offspinner James Tredwell, which boosted a tired and downhearted England squad following the disaster in Bangladesh.

The pair were called in for their World Cup debuts in the West Indies match in place of the experienced Collingwood and Anderson, and made Strauss’s tough call count with standout performances.

Wright made 44 to lift England to an eventual winning total and Tredwell provided key wickets in his haul of 4-48 to win the man of the match award.

“Look, mental freshness is a great thing in a cricketer,” Strauss said. “We definitely felt we needed to freshen things up for this game and it was a bit of a risk because the guys (Wright and Tredwell) hadn’t played, but they stood up and delivered when it really counted.”

England has provided the ultimate in an up-and-down World Cup campaign so far, but Strauss’s squad delivered when it counted on Thursday and England can now go through to the quarterfinals — despite losing to Ireland and Bangladesh — if India beats West Indies or South Africa beats Bangladesh this weekend.

“All we had to do was win the game. Very disappointed to be in that position but that’s gone, we’ve been there, done that,” he said. “All we could do was win today’s game and I’m really proud of the guys who stood up and performed in the high-pressure environment.”

Strauss said he would now “absolutely” be supporting India on Saturday.