West Indies head coach Andre Coley has asked his players to step up with their performance in the Trent Bridge Test after a flat performance at Lord’s that they lost by an innings inside three days. Despite the poor show, Coley said that there were positives to take into the next Test and hopes for improved efforts in batting as well as on the field.

“I would love to see us with a lot more intensity that we’re known to show in the field,” Coley said. “I thought in this Test match, we weren’t at our best in terms of imposing ourselves on the England batters. That is definitely something that we need to be better at for the next Test. We know the conditions will be testing: that’s why it’s called a Test match. We’re not playing at home. Our conditions are going to be slightly different, but we do have it within our ranks to be at our best and to compete with England. There were periods in the [first] game where [England] actually had to show really good application and grit… Jayden Seales, Jason Holder… you had Alzarri Joseph, his pace was back up; Gudakesh Motie played a fantastic role in terms of helping the captain, Kraigg [Brathwaite] to be able to control and [took the] key wicket of the captain [Ben] Stokes. So yes, quite a few positives…”

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Coley recalled the memories from earlier in the year when West Indies faced back after a 10-wicket defeat in Adelaide to claim a famous victory in Brisbane as well, a Test remembered for Shamar Joseph’s stunning show with the ball. While Joseph faces a race against time to achieve match fitness after complaining of stiffness in his left hamstring, Coley shared that the team was in good spirits despite the dispiriting three days of cricketing action as well.

“They would’ve taken a lot of positives from that,” Coley said about the Gabba Test. “In terms of how we were able to bounce back, the process that we went through to be able to do that I believe is a lot more powerful [than the result]. It reinforces the fact that in a series you could actually not start well but then compose yourself and come back in the series and be quite competitive, potentially set it up for a game-three decider. So there are real positives to be taken away, not only from the first Test here, but what we would’ve [faced in the] last six months.”

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“Having been here now about two weeks, having a bit of time to acclimatise to conditions and actually getting time in the middle… yes, the result was not what we would’ve wanted and planned for, but I do believe that there’s a lot to be had in terms of learning and takeaways. We admit that the side we have, it is young and emerging… but we are still very positive about how we are approaching the second Test. Everybody’s in good spirits. We’ve been catching up with the players one-on-one and this will really be the first time that we’ll be settled as a squad. There’s been quite a bit of activity on and off the field leading up to the first Test and it’s been a lot, I can imagine, for some of our players to have been able to absorb. So it’s a massive learning for everyone, players and staff, and we are still very positive as we head to Nottingham,” he concluded.