West Indies told to be ruthless

Chanderpaul first felt the problem when scoring 73 in the first Test victory. He has been West Indies’ most influential batsman after Brian Lara, and averages 40.83 in his 71 Test innings with his unflappable strokeplay. He made a tremendous start to the current tour scoring 373 runs at an average of 124.33 with two hundreds.

Adams, who took over as captain from a troubled Lara early this year, was heartened by the team’s enthusiasm and commitment. “We have a team of players who have committed themselves not to do well in one or two Test matches, but play a full series giving their best,” Adams said. “We have been working hard on the team spirit and the team unity but at the end of the day it’s the results that matter.

“We are committed to ensuring that we can give our best at all time. It’s that level of commitment that I am most encouraged about. Because some time a player will not have a particularly good day – he might have got out of the wrong side of the bed – but when you know that everyone is committed to the cause, you can be more forgiving toward these players when things don’t work out.”

The perennial problem facing England is their inconsistency. Six weeks ago in the first Test of the summer England were basking in glory after thrashing Zimbabwe in a lopsided Test at Lord’s. But in subsequent Tests it was trying to come to terms with batting’s fragility and the bowling that has remained inept and at time innocuous.

Alec Stewart, who lost his captaincy to Hussain after a failed 1999 World Cup, will fill in at Lord’s and possibly in the one-day games against West Indies and Zimbabwe too.

Michael Vaughan will take Hussain’s place while fellow Yorkshireman Craig White is expected to come in for Flintoff, who is also in danger of missing the one-day triangular series.