England 'gutted' by third Test performance, says batting coach Marcus Trescothick
England heading for series defeat in West Indies as they close day three of the third Test on 103-8, leading by 10; batting coach Marcus Trescothick: "At the critical moments in the game we haven't got it right... we all understand it wasn't good enough and we need to be better"
Sunday 27 March 2022 14:51, UK
England batting coach Marcus Trescothick says the team are "gutted with how we performed" after yet another batting collapse saw them on the edge of suffering a series defeat in the West Indies.
England first stumbled to 39-4 in their second innings - still some 54 runs in arrears - and then after a brief Alex Lees and Jonny Bairstow led revival, dropped to 103-8 by stumps, holding a lead of only 10.
Starting the day, the tourists will still have been hopeful of pressing forward their own claims for victory - West Indies resuming on 232-8 and only 28 ahead - but Joshua Da Silva scored a maiden Test century as 65 runs were added to the home side's overnight score before they then ripped through the England batting order.
"It was disappointing," Trescothick said after the day's play. "We are gutted really with how we performed. We have not got it right over the course of the day.
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"They got more runs than we wanted them to do so, and we were just losing too many wickets and not building too many partnerships.
"I think the boys are fairly honest about what they have done and they will look at it and go: 'we have made some poor decisions'.
"At the critical moments in the game we haven't got it right. We can only put our hands up to that and look to come again.
"We all understand it wasn't good enough and we need to be better."
Trescothick though added that he hoped the team wouldn't be judged too harshly based on their struggles in the third Test in Grenada after the first two drawn Tests produced "some great performances".
"Today has not been right," Trescothick said. "But a lot of what we have done in the first two Test matches has really been good for the team and the team has produced some great performances, so let's not judge it just on today.
"I will speak with the batters individually, and talk about certain situations, how the tour has gone for them, then we will look at what has happened over the course of the day, address it, sit down, try to make strides and make it better.
"It is a disappointing day today, but do not judge the whole series and how the team is performing on one day."
With a West Indian win looking inevitable, England are facing the prospect of going five series without a win, and with only a solitary Test win to show from their last 17 matches.
Following the 4-0 Ashes defeat over the winter, England made significant changes, with head coach Chris Silverwood, assistant Graham Thorpe and director of cricket Ashley Giles all losing their jobs, and eight squad members dropped - among them, James Anderson and Stuart Broad controversial omissions for this tour.
Pressed on the future of captain Joe Root, Trescothick added: "I don't think you can pinpoint the captain and say it's his fault. I think it's the group.
"Everyone will regret what happened because we haven't been good enough as a team and we haven't performed to the level we've put our standards at in the previous two Tests."
West Indies and England will resume the third Test at 2pm UK time on Sunday. Follow over-by-over text commentary from 1.45pm on skysports.com and the Sky Sports app.
