England To 'Come Out Fighting'

England spinner Graeme Swann says his side have learned from their heavy First Test loss to South Africa and will “come out fighting” at Headingley in the Second Test starting on Thursday.

The English were thrashed by the visiting Proteas who only lost two wickets in the First Test at The Oval. However Swann believes a two-hour post-game discussion about what went wrong, initiated by captain Andrew Strauss and coach Andy Flower has England refocused.

“Normally after a loss I tend to stick my head in the sand and pretend it never happened. But the two Andys were keen to make sure we focused on what happened. We broke up into groups, were given bullet points and discussed what went wrong,” Swann said according to The Sun.

“It was a horrible two hours because it was about 300 degrees in that hot, sweaty changing-room. But it brought the best out of the situation as there was a lot of people raising their hands saying we should have done this and that better.”

He added: “Our self-belief will have taken a dent. But having had that meeting has made it water under the bridge. We will come out fighting at Headingley.”

Meanwhile, batsman James Taylor has been called into the England squad for the Second Test to replace Ravi Bopara who has ruled himself out for personal reasons.

England Squad: Andrew Strauss, Alastair Cook, Jonathan Trott, Kevin Pietersen, Ian Bell, James Taylor, Matt Prior, Tim Bresnan, Stuart Broad, Graeme Swann, James Anderson, Steven Finn, Graham Onions