England's turbulent tour of the Caribbean had a happy ending in St Lucia where they clinched the one-day series 3-2 with a 26-run victory against West Indies. They bounced back admirably after trailing 1-2 in the contest and captain Andrew Strauss said he was "delighted" with how his team "handled the pressure".
"It has been a long, hard tour and to come out at the end with something is pretty special," Strauss said. "I'm delighted. We played really well and handled the pressure well. Given that we lost the Test series, the one-day series is very important to us."
The star of England's victory was Andrew Flintoff who took his first international hat-trick, the third by an England bowler in ODIs. "Freddie has had a tough tour - he's been injured a couple of times, but he showed his quality today," Strauss said. "That is why he is one of the best bowlers in the world - because under pressure he can deliver."
Flintoff was the Man of the Match for his spell of 5 for 19, his best in ODIs, which helped England dismiss West Indies for 146 in 28 overs. "It's been an on and off winter for me and I've had a few injuries, but it's for nights like this that you do come back," Flintoff said. "To finish with a win for the team and also have a personal performance in there as well is very pleasing.
"I've not been quite at my best - a few runs wouldn't go amiss. I've been working hard on my batting - I hope a score is just around the corner. We can go back home now and look ahead to what we've got over the next few months and get a bit of momentum for the summer."