Andrew Strauss, in his column for The Daily Telegraph, admitted that England’s defeat by Australia was disappointing but insisted they were in good spirits ahead of the Ashes.
I still maintain, however, that this trip has been very beneficial. The training and fitness work we have done will set us up for the Ashes and World Cup, and the feeling of togetherness which a bit of hardship brings will stand us in good stead later this winter.
Although he was not blaming the conditions for England’s problems, he did say that they had caught a number of sides on the hop:
One thing which hasn't helped us is that the pitches haven't been anything like the ones we played on earlier this year, so touring here in March and April might not have been an advantage. A late monsoon apparently hasn't given the groundstaff the chance to prepare the hard tracks we were expecting, and I don't think we are the only side in the tournament to have been duped into thinking this would be a high-scoring event. No batsman has so far scored a hundred in this Champions Trophy. In fact it wouldn't be going too far to say that every run to date has been worth two.
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