Strauss flat after bore draw

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Alastair Cook struck an unbeaten 139, his best Test score, and Kevin Pietersen weighed in with 72 not out as England declared on 279 for two, which took the extraordinary tally in the match to 1,628 runs and only 17 wickets.

The inequality between bat and ball made it a tedious affair and an inevitable result and Strauss, whose side are 1-0 down in the series with one Test to play, said: "My personal opinion is that is not good for Test cricket."

He added: "That wicket remained incredibly flat throughout the game, and if anything it was probably flatter on Monday than any other day.

"As cricketers you want to see a wicket that deteriorates as the game goes on. We didn't see that in this game and as a result it ended up being a fairly boring draw, which I don't think anyone wants to see.

"Generally, even if you can't force a result, you want a pretty tight tussle like Antigua last week where you can nearly force a result. Clearly here that would have been very difficult to do.

"You had eight, nine, 10 bowlers bowling on it and no-one really looked particularly threatening.

"So I wouldn't blame the quality of the bowling by any means.

"Certainly, from our own bowlers' point of view, they toiled exceptionally well - the way they continued in the right areas session after session after session was great testament to the control they have."

West Indies, who inflicted the second-largest total ever conceded by England in their only innings - 749 for nine - are now just a draw in Trinidad away from a first Test series win in five years.