subject: England Captain Andrew Strauss Is Annoyed [print this page] England captain Andrew Strauss has said that his team did not have the cutting edge at the third test. "We came to the ground with high hopes that we might force a victory, but the wicket had died," Strauss said.
"We just couldn't get it swinging, and that made a difference. We tried other options but it just wasn't to be." On the fitness of Andrew Flintoff for Friday's fourth Test he added: "Freddie seems OK. We're still pretty optimistic he'll be OK for Headingley."
Flintoff, who inspired England's victory at Lord's with a magnificent five-wiicket haul in the second innings, was wicketless throughout the match at Edgbaston, having sent down 15 overs in each innings. "You don't want to over-bowl him when there's not much help for him," Strauss said.
"Every time he bowls you have to be careful to see how he recovers, especially with the next game beginning on Friday. Hopefully he'll be fine to play."
"It's a little bit disappointing, but we'll take the positives. You always wonder if you could have done things differently, but a combination of good batting and a flat wicket took it away from us. We have to get ready for Friday.
"We were in charge for the majority of the match. The bowlers did exceptionally well on the first morning, and Australia will be pleased that they got out of jail.
"All credit to (Marcus) North and (Michael) Clarke - they batted very well and managed to take them to safety." Reflecting on the three matches thus far the England skipper said: "When the ball is swinging, they have looked vulnerable.
"When there isn't much going on they've got stuck in and got hundreds. We have to make sure we take advantage of conditions when they are in our favour."
"If England took some momentum from the Cardiff game, then we can do the same from this one," he said.
"The way we applied ourselves today and with the ball on Sunday, has been encouraging. A few guys have found some real form. There are a lot of positives there.
"We were in total control in the first session of play, England got the ball swinging a lot on the second day, which was the difference for us not getting the same sort of total as they did in their first innings.
"We got ourselves back into a really good position in the game, five down and a few hundred in front, if there were two days left in the game it could have turned out into a great game of cricket."
