Left field

England’s abject batting collapse against West Indies on Saturday, a 51 all out, was the third lowest total they have made in test matches and inevitably journalists search for an explanation for how Andrew Strauss’s side batted so badly.

I’m still searching and having read most of the attempts to explain, I’m not convinced that any of them, on their own, provide the answer .

The most obvious line for the press was that England were distracted by the recent row that saw Kevin Pietersen quit as captain and Peter Moores sacked as coach.

New skipper Strauss (pictured right) was wholly dismissive of the suggestion after the innings and 23 run defeat.

“I just can’t believe for one moment that in the middle, with Jerome Taylor bowling at you, that you are thinking about anything else,” he said. 

I think he is almost certainly correct about that.                                    

Then there is the related argument that England are a divided team, riddled with cliques. Those who support this view often use an alleged rift between Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff, which they say has its roots in the conflict over Moores.

I don’t claim any inside knowledge of the dressing room mood but I was fortunate enough to be staying in the same hotel as the England team in Kingston and didn’t pick up any signs of tension at all.

Sure, there were different groups of players sitting together but the division around the pool appeared to be generational, as you would expect, rather than based on any faction fighting.

Indeed, the day before the test, Flintoff and Pietersen spent quite a bit of time in each other’s company — and more significantly they didn’t look like enemies when they put on a solid partnership in England’s first innings either.

Are England, as some have suggested, “rudderless” given they don’t have a permanent head coach? The interim appointment for this tour, Andy Flower, is still formally assistant coach.

Zimbabwean Flower was pretty straight with reporters when he talked on Sunday, making clear that the buck stops with him in terms of organisation and discipline.

England have a captain, albeit a new one, and just as it is unlikely that England batsmen are thinking about past rows when at the crease, neither is it likely that the temporary status of their coach is going to be on their minds when Taylor is running in.

That doesn’t mean it wouldn’t have been better for England to have actually had a permanent coach in place, just that I don’t think it had an impact on Saturday. The role of a head coach in cricket, a topic for another day, is I think vastily over-rated in any case.

Did England under-estimate West Indies? They might have done, given the poor showing that Chris Gayle’s team gave during their 3-0 defeat in England in 2007, but did that translate into a complacent attitude during Saturday’s batting collapse? Again, I don’t think so.

There were some bad shots played but they weren’t the kind of shots that indicated a gross lack of respect for the bowlers — it was poor shot selection and some very, very good bowling.

If you are looking for a psychological explanation for the 51 all out, it might be more fruitful to look to an issue that both Strauss and Flower did acknowledge — the failure to handle pressure.

HORRIBLE INEVITABILITY

There did seem to be an air of panic about England once Taylor’s devastating spell starting taking a toll and anyone who has ever played the game knows that sometimes a horrible inevitability can take grip in a dressing room when the top order batsmen fall cheaply and quickly.

Last year, at the same ground and against a similar West Indies bowling attack, also in their second innings, Australia slumped to 18 for five — even worse than England’s start — yet they recovered to 167.

This was largely thanks to a fine knock by Andrew Symonds, which enabled Australia to go on and win the game by 95 runs. The Aussies had the middle order strength and the mental fortitude to plug the damn and stop themselves being washed away. On Saturday, England didn’t.

Which begs the question – are England simply ‘bottlers’? Do they not have what it takes to deal with a high-pressure situation? Only time will tell on that front, there are three more tests to go and there will be other high-pressure situations where England will have a chance to prove they are made of sterner stuff.

Likewise it is too soon to answer the other obvious and brutal question– are England simply not good enough? Sat in a press box which at times includes the presence of David Gower, Geoff Boycott and Michael Atherton, it is hard not to wonder if the current top order is just lacking in quality.

West Indies have three world class batsmen — Gayle, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Shivanarine Chanderpaul — all have more than 5,000 test runs and an average over 40 — while the only England batsman that any of the top-ranked nations would covet is the South African-born Pietersen.

But Strauss has 14 test match centuries, Ian Bell, whose place is under threat, has eight tons, opener Alastair Cook has seven, as does Paul Collingwood. They are not untried youngsters or constantly failing journeymen — they can bat at test level and there is no reason why they cannot recover their confidence and have good tours.

Luckily for England, the next test, which starts on Friday, is at the Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Ground in Antigua, which unless there is a major change in conditions from the past two years, offers one of the flattest batting tracks in international cricket.

If Strauss wins the toss and bats, it could take only two sessions for England to be in a strong position with runs on the board and for the nightmare of Sabina Park to be consigned to history.

That is largely what happened the last time England surrendered so meekly in the Caribbean — in the third test at Port of Spain, Trinidad in 1994. England, captained by Atherton, were skittled for just 46 in their second innings when Curtly Ambrose ran amok with six wickets.

Just over a week later though, in Barbados, England scored 355 and 394 to win by a margin of 208 runs. That should be warning enough against drawing too many conclusions from one dreadful day.

PHOTOS: England’s Andrew Strauss leaves the field after being dismissed against West Indies in Kingston, Feb 7 REUTERS/Philip Brown