Strauss piles pressure on England flops
ENGLAND captain Andrew Strauss has warned his struggling one-day side they are playing for their international futures at the Champions Trophy.
Selectors were expected to announce their party for the tour of South Africa yesterday but decided to delay the decision until the end of this tournament following England’s disastrous 6-1 one-day series defeat to Australia.
England trained in Johannesburg for the first time yesterday ahead of daunting back-to-back group games against Sri Lanka tomorrow and hosts South Africa on Sunday.
And Strauss, born just a couple of miles away from The Wanderers venue, admits a number of players are in the last-chance saloon as they prepare for their next venture.
“The performances of the Australia series and this Champions Trophy will be on the selectors’ minds,” Strauss said.
“We are not sure entirely which way we are going to go on that at the moment but guys have got three more opportunities to show what they can do. Hopefully more than three.
“One-day cricket has been an ongoing concern for us for a number of years now, and we are talking about decades rather than a few years.
“It is going to take a bit of time but in the meantime I still maintain we are capable of beating anyone. We just haven’t had the consistency over a number of years and we need to improve that.”
Sri Lanka will be the toughest possible start for Strauss’ men, especially after putting hosts South Africa to the sword in the tournament opener at Centurion on Tuesday. The good news for Strauss, however, is that he has a full squad to pick from with fast bowler Stuart Broad and Luke Wright both taking part in training yesterday despite recent niggles.