Last chance for England to draw Test series

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Port of Spain: England will make a desperate bid to win the fifth and final Test against West Indies, starting on Friday at Queen's Park Oval, to level the series and keep the Wisden Trophy which symbolises Test supremacy between the two sides.

England trail in the five-Test series 0-1, following an innings and 23-run defeat in the opening Test at Sabina Park in Jamaica, where they were dismissed for their third-lowest total of 51 in the second innings.

The second Test at the Vivian Richards Cricket Ground in Antigua was aborted because of an unsuitable outfield, while the third Test at the Antigua Recreation Ground and the fourth Test at Kensington Oval in Barbados both ended in draws.

England captain Andrew Strauss admitted that now his side's original objective to win the series has been scuttled, they would now have to settle on a share of the series which would allow them to keep the Trophy.

"I don't think we have any real excuses for where we are at the moment, but it would be nice to be on level terms certainly," he said.

"But the way we played in Jamaica wasn't good enough and that's why we are where we are at.

"If you look back to Jamaica we had a terrible session of cricket that cost us the game and since then I think we have played some good cricket and maybe we haven't quite got what we deserved. But we have one more opportunity to level the series," Strauss said.

Strauss' big challenge in the previous two Tests is that England have been unable to bowl West Indies out twice on flat pitches, and he is hoping for a surface that would allow for a far more competitive Test.

"One of the dangers in Test cricket is to play one game like the last," he said. "It would be wrong for us to assume that it would be another flat pitch in Trinidad. Hopefully, it won't be, and there would be more in the pitch, and it would be a completely different game of cricket. It is important that we do not get caught up with the fact that we are playing on flat pitches and it is impossible to take 20 wickets. Each surface gives you a new opportunity to react to what is there, and taking those wickets."