England v West Indies: Andrew Strauss must cope better with the short ball, says Geoffrey Boycott

He just jumps up in the air. The idea is to play back, deep in the crease, to give yourself more time to play the rising ball so you can get high on your toes to keep the ball down.

And, although the century will have given him some confidence, he needs to work on that because he will definitely face plenty of short balls when South Africa come along later this summer because Dale Steyn is quicker than Roach and a far better bowler. Morne Morkel is a tall man who gets bounce allied to pace. They will give him a working over.

I thought Alastair Cook played well under pressure. He is always the man for a tough situation. Ian Bell was back to his accomplished, stroke-playing best in both innings. For me, last year he was the best batsman in the world until his hiccup in the winter against the turning ball.

He has such a superb technique and a wide range of shots that I never understand how he is dismissed. His footwork is textbook, he gets into great positions whether attacking or defending and he has to get back to the same pinnacle he reached last year.

For me, the two disappointments were the way Kevin Pietersen fell in the second innings and Matt Prior in the first. When you are chasing a small total in the fourth innings of a match it is good to be positive but there is no need to play reckless shots. He played a very good pull shot to Shannon Gabriel but the next ball was a fuller length and cramped him for room.

Yet he was still trying to pull when it was too close to his body. He gave the impression he had made up his mind to dominate the bowler whatever he bowled. My view is Kevin’s ego got in the way of common sense.

Prior’s innings on Saturday was a big disappointment. He came in and played a shot every ball as if England were batting for a declaration (they were not).

I forecast his demise because it wasn’t batting we were watching, more like a net session. You want your wicketkeeper and late-order batsman to be positive to try to take the initiative away from opposition, but surely he has to be selective in his shot making and not irresponsible. He is a better batsman than that.

The last time the West Indies were here you would have expected them to fold in the second innings and the match would be all over by tea on the fourth day.

So it was nice to see signs that they have a bit of fight and spirit. You always know Chanderpaul loves these situations. He is going to sell his wicket dearly against everybody.

I saw the first Test he ever played in Guyana and a lot since. He is a perfect example to any youngster of how to play your own way.

Too many of the West Indies players, such as Darren Bravo, think they can emulate Brian Lara. They can’t. You have to find what is best for you. Chanderpaul may look ugly with his two shouldered, two-eyed stance, but the guy can bat. In the end, it is not how you look, it is how many runs you make.