Gayle warning for Windies

Chris Gayle leads his side off after their 10-wicket drubbing. They need to recover quickly to hold on to the Wisden Trophy

Chris Gayle is preparing for more of the same from the English May weather, but wants much better from his team when they travel to Durham to try and level the npower Test series.

The West Indies captain agrees with his coach John Dyson that home advantage is the main reason England proved 10 wickets superior in the first Test of two, which finished at Lord’s yesterday.

Time is short for the Windies to salvage a draw next week and therefore retain the Wisden Trophy they won in the Caribbean in March.

But Gayle is calling on his tourists to adapt to the alien conditions before it is too late. He and the remainder of the top order failed to do themselves justice and collapsed under pressure two days running at HQ to the bowling of debutant seamer Graham Onions and late-blossoming off-spinner Graeme Swann.

Gayle is at a loss to pinpoint exactly what went wrong twice over.

“It’s a tough one to actually answer,” said the Jamaican left-hander.

“It’s very disappointing, but we have to try and put that behind us now and have the self-belief to go out and get the job done in Durham.

“That will be in tough conditions, but we’ll just have to cope with it and make sure we are well-prepared. We are looking forward to it.”

The day may not be too far distant when West Indies get the chance to tour again, as they so often did in their pomp, as a major force and therefore in the second half of the English summer.

For Gayle, that prospect of warmer weather cannot come soon enough.

“The majority of the time I was batting out there, that wind was hitting me in the eye and there was a lot of water in the eyes as well,” he remembered of a Lord’s experience which brought him just 28 in two innings out of his team’s aggregate 408.

Debutant Graham Onions was West Indies' destroyer in chief, claiming seven wickets

“It makes a big difference, but this is the disadvantage we have to cope with,” he accepts.

“You just have to tough it out and try to get the job done as well as possible.”

As for a later start next time - the West Indies’ last invitation to savour England in July and August ended in a 4-0 defeat five years ago - Gayle would be delighted.

“I’ve never been in England so early for a tour, and the conditions are always going to be a bit different from later on in the summer. But we have to adapt,” he said.

“It would be nice if we get that opportunity to tour a bit later. There would be a lot more sunshine - that would be good.”

In the more immediate future, the West Indies may contemplate changes for Chester-le-Street - but will be making no hasty selection decisions.

“We need to reflect on the manner in which we lost this game and try to have some discussion, put things in place and then come up with a final XI for the next Test match,” the captain reports.

“The teams are very even-steven. The difference is the conditions.”

Other differences were the all-round skills of Swann, a crucial hundred in awkward circumstances from Ravi Bopara in his first attempt at number three - and Onions’ seven-wicket match haul.

The 26-year-old from Gateshead will doubtless be hoping for another virtuoso display on his home ground - but Gayle and Co will be ready for him this time.

“We’ve had a bit of Onion, and it’s burned us in the eye,” he admitted.

“We hope we can stop that in the next Test match.

“He’s not express but he bowled well and hit the right areas. You have to give credit to any bowler picking up five wickets on their debut.

“Well done to Onions - we’ll have to counter-attack in the next Test match.”

England's slip cordon towards the end of West Indies' second innings displayed the hosts' superiority