England v West Indies: Andrew Strauss not thinking of quitting

Andrew Strauss says he has not thought of giving up the England captaincy, ahead of the first Test against West Indies at Lord's on Thursday.

Strauss has made one century in his last 49 Test innings, while his side, though top of the world rankings, have won once in their last five matches.

Asked if he has ever felt fed-up of the job, he replied: "Not even close.

"There may be a situation where that has happened to England captains in the past but I'm not there at the moment."

England face three Tests against West Indies before three against South Africa knowing that defeat in either series will see the Proteas replace them as world number ones.

"I'm excited about the challenges ahead, to come out at Lord's again, and I'm hoping we will all show what we're capable of this summer," said Strauss.

"The West Indies series is an important one for us and they're a vastly improved side, so it will be a big challenge.

"The big series against South Africa is round the corner as well so I'm really excited to get stuck in, hopefully score some runs myself and lead us in what we hope will be a successful summer.

He added: "It's always a challenge as an opener to score runs. I've felt in reasonable form the last six months, but 20s and 30s aren't what we're looking for. I will hopefully get stuck in and get runs for the lads."

England were beaten 3-0 by Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates before drawing 1-1 in Sri Lanka and Strauss believes the team's fortunes will improve now that they are back on home turf.

"I think we're all quite excited about being back in our home conditions," said Strauss.

"The winter was a challenge and we've learned some really valuable things for the future but now it's about reconnecting with what we've done well in these conditions.

"We're a very confident side and we've got all bases covered in these conditions but the challenge is to keep performing."

Windies seamer Kemar Roach has recovered from his twisted ankle and is determined to play.

"Kemar said nothing is going to stop him playing at Lord's, and that is the attitude of all the players," said captain Darren Sammy.

"They all want to play at the home of cricket and they will put everything aside to play for the West Indies.

"There's been a lot of discussion in the dressing room about who's going to put their name on the (honours) board.

"Kemar said he's going to be the first one; Ravi [Rampaul] said it's going be him - and I myself think it's going to be me.

"There's a lot of inspiration that can be taken from Lord's - it's the spiritual place of cricket. So we hope magical things can happen for us.

"We know that if we can play well and put runs on the board we back our bowling attack to get 20 wickets and win a Test match."

England (from): Andrew Strauss (Middlesex, capt), James Anderson (Lancashire), Jonny Bairstow (Yorkshire), Ian Bell (Warwickshire), Tim Bresnan (Yorkshire), Stuart Broad (Nottinghamshire), Alastair Cook (Essex), Steven Finn (Middlesex), Graham Onions (Durham), Kevin Pietersen (Surrey), Matt Prior (Sussex, wk), Graeme Swann (Nottinghamshire), Jonathan Trott (Warwickshire).

West Indies (from): Darren Sammy (capt), Kirk Edwards (vice-capt), Adrian Barath, Darren Bravo, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Narsingh Deonarine, Fidel Edwards, Assad Fudadin, Shannon Gabriel, Kieran Powell, Kemar Roach, Denesh Ramdin, Ravi Rampaul, Marlon Samuels, Shane Shillingford.