England cricket captain Strauss calls for self-reliance

New captain Andrew Strauss said he wanted England's players to "think on their feet" as he outlined his vision for the team ahead of their tour of the West Indies.

English cricket was plunged into turmoil a fortnight ago when a personality clash saw Kevin Pietersen forced to resign as captain and Peter Moores sacked as coach.

In the ensuing fall-out, there was much debate about the roles of the captain and the coach.

But Strauss said the biggest burden for results ought to fall on the players themselves.

"We want to get back to do what do we best, playing cricket and winning Test matches," Strauss told reporters at England's Gatwick Hotel here Tuesday, on the eve of their departure for the Caribbean.

"My belief is we want to see players think on their feet out in the middle, takes responsibilty for the situation and don't leave it to someone else," the Middlesex opening batsman, who led England to a series victory over Pakistan in 2006 when Michael Vaughan was injured, added.

"The only way we can do that is to give them more responsibility off the field as well. I'm challenging my players to start thinking a bit more about what they need to do in terms of preparation and I'm giving them a lot more flexibility to do that."

England will travel to the West Indies without a head coach, with former Zimbabwe batsman Andy Flower - Moores's assistant - leading the remaining backroom staff.

And Strauss added: "I suppose the coaches will play more of an advisory or consultancy role. It's vitally important the players are challenged to think for themselves."

The 31-year-old left-hander said he'd been encouraged by the mood of the squad when they held a team meeting last Thursday and he was adamant star batsman Pietersen would not be a divisive influence.

"Kevin was his normal self when we met up," said Strauss. "I've never seen Kevin show a negative side to him since the first day I met him.

"He's very positive, he doesn't dwell on the past and I'm sure he's already plotting ways of spanking the West Indies bowlers all over the place."

England have a good recent record against the West Indies, winning 13 out of their last 16 Tests against them spread across four series - a run stretching back nearly nine years.

And for all their recent infighting England, who head to St Kitts on Wednesday, remain favourites for a four-Test series that starts in Jamaica on February 4.

"We want to win both the Test amd one-day series and start building some momentum before an important summer," Strauss said.

"The West Indies are now a very dangerous side. The likes of Ramnaresh Sarwan, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Chris Gayle and Fidel Edwards are all very dangerous cricketers."

England under Moores only won Test series against the West Indies and New Zealand, two of world cricket's weaker five-day sides.

"We've been playing some decent cricket over the last year but we haven't nailed it home when we've needed to," Strauss said.

"If we can start being a little bit more ruthless in the way we play, we are a match for most sides."

While the official West Indies side differs significantly from the Stanford Superstars team that thrashed England by 10 wickets in their 20 million dollars Twenty20 clash in Antigua in November, they have been showing signs of improvement in Test cricket too.

They drew a series in New Zealand in December and held Sri Lanka to 1-1 in a series earlier in 2008.