Strauss warns under-achievers by CricketArchive Staff Reporter

---

Player:	AJ Strauss
Event:	ICC Champions Trophy 2009/10

---

DateLine: 24th September 2009

 

England skipper Andrew Strauss gave a veiled warning that English players are playing for their futures in the Champions Trophy.

 

Though the skipper backed his men, he also said that, more bad performances and convincing defeats following the thrashing at the hands of the Aussies will no doubt make certain players uncomfortable.

 

"Obviously the performances of the Australia series and this Champions Trophy will be on the selectors' minds," said Strauss.

 

"We are not sure entirely which way we are going to go on that at the moment but guys have got three more opportunities to show what they can do. Hopefully more than three."

 

Strauss men face hosts South Africa, Sri Lanka and New Zealand, in group-b of Champions Trophy.

 

"One-day cricket has been an ongoing concern for us for a number of years now, and we are talking about decades rather than a few years.

 

"But I am increasingly excited about making big strides in one-day cricket and in order to do that we need to have a real look at what we have been doing in practice and in the middle.

 

"It is a good project to be involved in and moving forward as a group.

 

"It is going to take a bit of time but in the meantime I still maintain we are capable of beating anyone. We just haven't had the consistency over a number of years and we need to improve that.

 

"I don't imagine for one minute there are going to be wholesale changes like picking nine or 10 guys who haven't played for England before. I don't think that is helpful.

 

"Generally these guys have been the guys who have performed most consistently in county cricket.

 

"There will be a few who are knocking on the door and rightly so but there is always that temptation to think that magic cure is somewhere lurking in the counties.

 

"The reality is that the cure lies within the group of players and how we approach our cricket and how we practise and all that sort of stuff."