'England needs winning habit'

Updated 14.57 Mon May 14 2007
Keywords: Michael Vaughan, Andrew Strauss, West Indies, England, cricket, sport

England's cricketers must regain the winning habit when their summer Test campaign begins against the West Indies at Lord's on Thursday.

Since their 2005 Ashes triumph, England have won just one of the last five Test series. And as a new era gets under way with Duncan Fletcher's successor as England coach Peter Moores, chairman of selectors David Graveney is keen to see a change in fortunes, starting at Lord's.

"It's vitally important to start the season with a victory. It's important for Peter Moores in his first match as coach, for the fans, for the players, for everybody to start well" - England chairman of selectors David Graveney

Graveney said: "It's vitally important to start the season with a victory. It's important for Peter Moores in his first match as coach, for the fans, for the players, for everybody to start well.

"It's fair to say the winter did not go as well as we would have liked and a win at Lord's would make all the difference to starting the summer in the right way."

Andrew Strauss will skipper England, who are sweating over the fitness of all-rounder Andrew Flintoff, in the absence of Michael Vaughan, who has missed 16 of England's last 18 Tests since their Ashes triumph.

But Graveney is upbeat about Vaughan's chances of recovering from his broken finger in time to play in the second Test against the West Indies which begins at Headingley on May 25.

He added: "We just thought that it wasn't worth taking the risk. We've cut corners before and this time we just want to take a little more time to get Michael fully fit.

"We don't see it as much of a problem that he hasn't had much cricket and if he is fit he will return at Headingley, but that Test is coming around very quickly after this one."

Flintoff is waiting for the results of a scan on his troublesome left ankle to determine whether he is fit to line up against the West Indies at Lord's.

The 29-year-old all-rounder complained of further discomfort in his left ankle after bowling during Lancashire's drawn Championship clash with Hampshire at the Rose Bowl.

© Independent Television News Limited 2007. All rights reserved.