England Vs West Indies 3rd Test- Draw

West Indies v England 3rd Test

Antigua, 15-19 February 2009

An early chance goes begging before Ramnaresh Sarwan gets his century Captain Andrew Strauss has defended his decision to not declare earlier as England failed to beat West Indies in an exciting finish to the third Test. The visitors had looked set to level the series at 1-1 but the home side held out for a draw in fading light. Strauss declared on 221-8 in the second innings, setting West Indies an improbable 503 for victory, but England fell agonisingly short by one wicket. "We had over 130 overs to bowl the West Indies," said the Middlesex batsman. "On most fifth-day wickets that is more than enough overs." After their shocking defeat in the opening match of the series, England were on top for much of the match in Antigua but Ramnaresh Sarwan (106) and Shivnarine Chanderpaul (55) led a determined survival effort by the home side. But although Andrew Flintoff was not firing on all cylinders because of a hip problem, Stuart Broad weighed in with 3-51, Graeme Swann also took three wickets to go with his 5-57 in the first innings and James Anderson picked up two. Questions will be asked about his decision not to enforce the follow-on after the West Indies first innings, and the timing of his declaration on the fourth day, but Strauss said: "We needed to bat again, particularly with Freddie being injured. "When you get so close there are always things you think about. But there are many positives to come out of this Test match. We will take those positives and continue to get better." He added: "I don't regret it because Steve Harmison was very ill - we didn't know if we would get any overs out of him and Fred had this injury so we weren't sure how many overs we would get out of him. "So, it was very important we gave our other bowlers a rest so they could come with their fuel tanks as full as possible for the final innings, so I don't regret that. Cannot play media.You do not have the correct version of the flash player. Download the correct version "There are always things that you think, 'I might have done this slightly differently or that differently' but generally the effort the guys put in was outstanding. " Flintoff, who faces a scan in the next two days, still managed to contribute 14 overs on the final day and almost wrapped up the win with a couple of inswinging yorkers. "We tried to bowl him today as little as possible but we probably bowled him more than we wanted to," Strauss added. "His last spell was incredible considering his fitness. We'll get a scan done in Barbados - he may be fit [for the next Test], he may not be." Despite the disappointment, with Strauss admitting a draw "almost feels like a defeat", he is confident England can still win the series. "It's tough to take. I thought we did enough but it wasn't to be," he said. "Right through this match we played exceptional cricket and if we can continue in similar fashion we will come out on top."