Strauss hoping for salvage operation

Captain Andrew Strauss has his sights set on salvaging England's desperate winter campaign by returning with the trophy for winning the one-day series against West Indies.

Strauss hit an unbeaten 79 off 61 balls to secure a nine-wicket Duckworth/Lewis triumph at the Kensington Oval to level the series and set up a decider in St Lucia on Friday.

"Friday is an opportunity to go home with some silverware, which would be very satisfying for the lads and give us some momentum going into the summer," said Strauss. "We need to get rid of that Jekyll and Hyde nature and back-to-back wins would be a fitting end to the winter."

Strauss has also confirmed he has held talks with predecessor Kevin Pietersen about his recent interview when he confessed to being "at the end of my tether", while it has also emerged the Hampshire batsman asked to return home for 48 hours between the third and fourth Tests to ease his homesickness.

That request was refused and Strauss explained: "The permission wasn't granted because we're on a cricket tour and it sets a bad precedent if people can go home during cricket tours.

"He understood that fully and it wasn't an issue by any means and he just got on with it. He's been very supportive all the tour, he's been very professional in the way he's prepared himself.

"I've had a chat to him about what he said and I think it's completely dealt with as far as we're concerned.

"I don't think anything he said was in a malicious manner and we move on from there and hopefully lessons have been learned."