Andrew Strauss believes his match-winning performance for England will inspire his team-mates Ian Bell and Paul Collingwood.

The Middlesex left-hander's hard fought 106 enabled a stunning fightback by England and guided them to a six-wicket victory over New Zealand at Old Trafford in the second npower Test.

It was his second century in the last four innings and he is yet to score less than 60 for England this summer.

But Strauss was dropped for the pre-Christmas tour to Sri Lanka after he failed to reach three figures in 26 successive innings.

His amazing turnaround is in stark contrast to Bell and Collingwood, neither of whom have scored a half-century so far in the series but battled hard to steer England to their victory target.

But Strauss is confident both players have the ability to bounce back from their current bad form to make a contribution for England.

Strauss said: "It's hard work when you're not scoring as many runs as you want to. I didn't realise how hard it was until I went through it.

"From my point of view I'm very lucky to have got the chance to come back and show I wasn't a spent force and had an opportunity in the side when some people thought that I shouldn't be in there.

"It's very much the case with the guys that are struggling a bit at the moment, but they'll come through it, there's no doubt about that.

"You only have to look at the records of the guys in the top six to see we've got a very strong batting line-up."

With Collingwood and Bell struggling for runs at present and captain Michael Vaughan having endured a difficult winter series in New Zealand, England have not posted a first-innings total in excess of 400 for the last 11 Tests.

It is a regular failing which has undermined England's attempts to play more consistent cricket and Strauss conceded: "It doesn't always fire when you want it to and it's frustrating when it doesn't, but success breeds success.

"When we start winning games in a row and building up momentum that will help the guys to score runs and by scoring runs it will help us win more games.

"If a few of the guys are in good form, that's going to rub off on the other guys."

The success of England in chasing down a victory target of 294, the highest ever at Old Trafford, helped them complete a remarkable turnaround having conceded a 179-run first innings deficit the previous day.

Vaughan said he was pleased with the unbroken 46-run stand between struggling pair Bell and Collingwood, which he believes may now give them the injection of confidence required to enjoy more success this summer.

"Having Bell and Collingwood out there at the end to hit the winning runs, should give them a massive confidence boost," Vaughan added.

"They were under a lot of pressure, they know that, and came through it. We are a lot happier as a team because we looked like going 1-0 down in the series, but we're now 1-0 up with a great opportunity of winning."

Meanwhile, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has announced the details of England's tour to the West Indies next year when they will play four tests, five one-dayers and a Twenty20 match.

England will arrive in Barbados on January 21 where they will play two three-day warm-up matches before moving to Jamaica for the first test at Sabina Park on February 4.

They then travel to Antigua where the second test will start on February 13 with the third at the Kensington Oval in Barbados from February 26.

The fourth and final test (March 6-10) will be played at Queen's Park Oval in Trinidad, with the same venue hosting the international Twenty20 match less than a week later.

Then come the five one-day internationals, concluding in St Lucia with a day/nighter on April 3.

The early end to the tour means England's leading players may have the opportunity to join the lucrative Indian Premier League next year, which runs from April 10 to May 29.

© Independent Television News Limited 2008. All rights reserved.