England's stand-in captain Ben Stokes said his team believed 200 is a good enough target on a gradually deteriorating fifth-day track in Southampton.
But Stokes also admitted that the hosts failed to put enough runs on the board in the first innings, which eventually came back to haunt them, as they suffered a four-wicket defeat to West Indies in the first Test of the three-match series on Sunday (June 12).
"It was a hard-fought Test," he said at the post-match presentation. "The skills and the level of cricket played was fantastic. You have to believe that 200 is enough, and if you don't, you're already losing."
"We should have got more runs in the first innings. We weren't ruthless enough to make our batting innings count, despite getting into good positions."
"I would still have batted first, because first innings runs count. If we made 400-500 runs, we really would have taken it away. But it has been a massive learning curve for the batting line-up and the young guys," Stokes added.
Despite talks around it, Stokes backed his team's decision to leave out veteran pacer Stuart Broad and opt for the extra pace of Mark Wood.
Broad, in an interview given midway through the Test match, expressed his displeasure at the call.
"I don't regret leaving Stuart Broad out, and we are fortunate to leave someone like him out," said Stokes. "I would be upset if he didn't show the passion he did in that interview, and he's nowhere near done. If he plays in the second Test I hope he walks off with some wickets."
When asked whether his team failed to respond positively to the pressure the West Indies put on them at different stages of the match, Stokes defended his players and said there was a lot to learn from the defeat that shall come in handy at Old Trafford, the venue of the next Test, starting July 24.
"Pressure shows itself in different ways; some hectic running goes on in the middle and there are chances we didn't take. Lots of positives in retrospect and a good learning curve this game," Stokes said.
"In terms of fitness, we had a long build-up period, so it'll be interesting how everybody pulls up for the next Test," he concluded.
(Inputs from CricketNext)
