Strauss: England were clinical

Date released: 8 May 2009

England captain Andrew Strauss hailed his team as "clinical" after they saw of West Indies inside three days of the npower first Test match at Lord's.

"By and large we played some pretty clinical cricket.

Bopara celebrates his century "We were in some trouble on day one. I'm delighted for Ravi to show his temperament.

"Today (Friday) was a bit flatter but we kept at it and it's good to get over that finishing line - we've struggled to do that in the Caribbean.

"You can't underestimate how important it is to win cricket matches. It lifts everyone. It gives everyone confidence.

"We really wanted to hit the ground running. We knew about that not winning the opening Test of a series for a while, so we wanted to hit the ground running."

England's victory came largely due to the performances of several of their less experienced players: Ravi Bopara's century; Graham Onions' five-for in the first innings and a man-of-the-match performance from Graeme Swann.

Strauss was pleased with the input of the newer players:

Onions enjoys taking another Windies wicket "Graham Onions, to start like that, what a start. He bowled with some aggression and some pace too.

"He (Swann) has got good variety, he's a smart bowler. He's putting in performances day in, day out.

"There have been times we've relied on [Kevin Pietersen] too much. He'll come back."