London, July 11 : England skipper Andrew Strauss insists that the decision to rest off spinner Graeme Swann should not be used as an excuse following their humiliating five-run defeat against Bangladesh in the second ODI at Bristol.
Swann is being rested for the three-match series, while it was the work of the Bangladeshi spinners that left England batsmen bamboozled.
“Graeme would have made a difference, but you would have thought that the players we had on the park was good enough to win this game of cricket,” News of The World quoted Strauss, as saying.
“We were probably 20 percent off what we should have been, but I don’t want disrespect Bangladesh because I thought they were outstanding,” he added.
Bangladesh’s win levels the three-match series at 1-1, and ends their run of 24 consecutive defeats across all formats stretching back to November last year.
It also meant that they had defeated England for the first time, having lost all of the previous eight Tests and 20 ODIs between the two countries.
© ANI
