Chennai, Mar 16: England's preparation ahead of their must-win game against West Indies suffered a setback when key members of the squad including pacer Ajmal Shahzad were laid low with a stomach bug, but skipper Andrew Strauss today exuded confidence that his men would recover in time for the all important clash tomorrow.
Fast bowler Shahzad became the latest player, after Strauss and off-spinner Graeme Swann, to be down with stomach bug. The captain and team's lead tweaker Swann both missed yesterday's training session due to illness while strike bowler James Anderson received treatment for a shoulder niggle.
"I am feeling well now. Obviously, laid low the night before and yesterday morning to some extent. But I feel fine now. Graeme Swann is also recovering well. He should be practising today. I don't know whether he is quite as fine as I am. We are confident that Swann will be fine for tomorrow's clash. Shahzad has been struck as well. He probably won't practice today," Strauss told reporters here on the eve of their high-profile group B clash.
"We are not sure at this stage whether that is going to affect Ajmal chances of being selected for tomorrow. It has happened to a lot of experienced guys going down in this World Cup.
"We try and take all the precautions that we can do. But these things are likely to strike at some stage. You should be prepared to ride them and hopefully make sure guys get better quick enough to be able to play," he added.
A difficult selection dilemma definitely is the inclusion of speedster Anderson, who hasn't been in good form in the tournament so far.
Anderson has so far taken only four wickets in five league matches of the World Cup at an average of more than 70.
Strauss is clearly aware of the fact that defeat would spell doom as it would mean the end of the road for World T20 champions.
Obviously the shock defeats at the hands of both Ireland and Bangladesh haven't done their chances any good.
"Anderson has had a tough time in the World Cup so far, but we all know what a quality performer he is. His name is very much in their for selection, but I am not sure how much Shahzad's unavailability would influence his selection," he said.
Strauss said they are determined to win what would be their first World Cup title.
"Potentially we have got four more games to play (up to the final) before a nice long break. We know what the prize there is. We are determined to make most of the opportunity to take that prize. Once every team gets into the last eight, then every game is a must-win game. I have confidence in my boys that we will be able to achieve that," he said.
"I am genuinely excited about it. We have got nothing to fear. I think if we can go out there and play some really good cricket tomorrow and hopefully book our passage into the next phase of the tournament.
"From our point of view the key is for us to stay in the tournament, we want to be one of those teams who can be the winners. So we need to win here tomorrow," he added.
When asked about the West Indies side, the skipper said, "They have got a good balance to their side. Three spinners and one genuinely quick bowler (Kemar Roach)."
"The key for me is that they have not been put under real pressure in the South African game. The challenge for us is to put them under pressure from the word go and see how they respond," he said.
Asked about the reasons for England facing prospects of early elimination from the tournament, Strauss attributed the inconsistent run to some poor planning.
"We lost three games that we should not have lost. We got ourselves in the situation. That is disappointing but we are not going to hide away from that. We played some good and some poor cricket. The equation is quite clear. There is no reason for us to doubt ourselves at this stage. We should go out there and play good aggressive cricket," said the 34-year-old skipper.
He also shrugged off any talks about fatigue in the camp.
"We have been on the road for a long time but fatigue is the last thing on our minds."
The batting Powerplays that turned out to be a disaster for most of the teams in this World Cup hardly concerns Strauss.
"I think the issue is how you approach the Powerplays. It does changes the batsman's mindset, the opposition always bring their best bowlers during that period. So you need to react to whatever circumstances arise. It constitutes only 5 out of the 50 overs, so it's all about playing the right strokes at the right time. I think we have not done it quite well as we would like in this Cup," he added.
Strauss also rubbished his retirement talks and termed the media reports as "baseless".
"I do not know where the article came from. It is baseless as far as I am concerned. I have had no thoughts of retiring from one-day cricket." PTI
