Strauss challenges England attack

_{Andrew Strauss says his team will have to work hard if they are to draw level in the series}

Captain Andrew Strauss is confident England can win the fourth Test without Andrew Flintoff.

The all-rounder will play no part in the penultimate match of the series in Barbados due to a hip problem, the latest in a long line of injuries which have interrupted his international career.

The tourists called up all-rounder Ravi Bopara and seamer Amjad Khan to cover for Flintoff, emphasising his worth to the England side.

But Strauss claims England have enough experience of playing without their key all-rounder to give them genuine hope of a series-levelling victory at the Kensington Oval.

“We’ve had to play without him quite a lot over the last few years and if you rest all your hopes on one man, sometimes the rest of the team don’t take the responsibility they need to,” Strauss said.

“We’ve found when he hasn’t played before the bowlers have stood up and performed and the batting unit has performed pretty well as well, so there is no reason we can’t win.

“We’d love him in the side but I don’t think that it affects our chances of winning. I still think we have a very good chance of winning with the bowlers we’ve got.

“It is just a case of three seamers standing up and doing the job rather than four. That just gives them more responsibility and in many ways you will get more out of bowlers that way.

“I think we get used to relying on Fred both as an attacking and defensive option, which is a great luxury to have, and when he’s not there then other bowlers have to put their hands up and take the wickets or bowl the maidens.”

Ravi Bopara is pushing for a place in the side in the absence of Andrew Flintoff

Statistics appear to back Strauss up. His three Test wins as captain have come in games Flintoff has missed, while England have been more successful without Flintoff than with him since the 2005 Ashes.

He has played in half the 42 completed Tests since that heady summer, with England winning 10 of the 21 he has missed and only three of those in which he has played.

Despite being England’s premier all-rounder, he boasts just five hundreds and two five-wicket hauls in 75 Tests.

“No-one feels those stats more than Fred,” said Strauss. “He’d like to make more match-winning contributions but you’ve got to bear in mind that, for an all-rounder, a 60 or 70 with the bat and three or four wickets with the ball is a pretty solid contribution.

“You have to look past those stats a little bit and also note the effect he has on the team. I’m sure he’d like to push those stats up and once he is back fit then hopefully he’ll have the enthusiasm to do that.”

Flintoff is scheduled to begin rehabilitation towards the end of this match, and his return towards fitness allied to a victory would be a major fillip heading to Trinidad.

Despite only arriving on the tour last weekend, following a 41-hour trek from New Zealand, Bopara appears set to take Flintoff’s place at number six, a spot above Tim Ambrose, who will deputise for Matt Prior following his return home.

Bopara’s hundred against a Barbados Cricket Association President’s XI, and an ability to bowl medium pace, has resulted in him moving ahead of Ian Bell in the reckoning.

Seamer Amjad Khan is hoping to make his Test debut after arriving from New Zealand

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“I think the reality is that the reasons we dropped Ian Bell haven’t particularly changed,” said Strauss. “We feel that he needs to work on a few things and he needs to freshen up mentally.

“If he comes into the game then he wouldn’t have had the opportunity to do that, or at least it would only have been a very short window to do that.”

Fast bowler Amjad Khan - Bopara’s travel partner from Christchurch via Auckland, Los Angeles and Miami - is also challenging Steve Harmison for a place in the team.

“I think there are two ways of looking at Steve Harmison,” said Strauss. “One is that he is frustrating and you don’t always get the same level of performance out of him.

“The other is that he is a bowler and bowlers rely on rhythm that doesn’t come as easily as people think.

“It is easy for batsmen to say ‘Come on, just run in (and bowl) at 92mph’ when it is actually harder to do that in practice.

“His levels of fitness are much better than they were and he will continue to get fitter. As he does, he will bowl more consistently fast and with hostility.

“Generally with Steve, if he is bowling quick and with hostility then no batsman likes facing him.

“He knows what we want from him and I think he knows how to get there so it is up to him to put that work in.”