Andrew Strauss, the England captain, described himself as "angry" here in Kingston on Saturday night after one of the most humiliating defeats in the country’s history. England were bowled out for just 51 runs in 33.2 overs – their third lowest score ever – as they lost by an innings and 23 runs to go 1-0 down in the four-Test series against West Indies.

They batted for just two hours and 32 minutes as the Jamaican fast bowler Jerome Taylor produced a heroic piece of fast bowling to finish with figures of five for 11.

At one stage England were 26 for seven – level with Test cricket’s lowest total, made by New Zealand against England in 1955 – and they just edged past their two lowest scores, the 45 they made against Australia in Sydney in 1887 and the 46 they made against West Indies in Trinidad in 1994.

But Strauss denied the capitulation was related to the upheaval that saw both captain Kevin Pietersen and coach Peter Moores depart on the same bloody day last month. After his first match as England’s official captain, Strauss said: "We got into a pressure situation in the match which we didn’t handle very well.

"The dressing room is a pretty disconsolate place at the moment. No one wants to see England go down in that fashion. The players are all hurting badly. I’m pretty angry with the way we let ourselves down. We’ve all got to hold up our hands and say that the way we batted was not good enough, individually or collectively.

"When I started I said we had to take responsibility for our actions as a group of players and we hold up our hands and say that wasn’t good enough. Feeling how bad it feels to lose in that manner can be used to motivate us."

"As a group of seven, eight or nine batsmen, we were very poor. I can’t believe that when you’re out there in the middle and Jerome Taylor is running in to bowl at you you’re thinking about anything that had gone before. That’s an easy excuse to make but not a relevant one.

"In a situation like that there was pressure on every batsman that went out there. If you were thinking about your place in the side or anything like that then that’s not going to help.

"No one wants to lose their first Test match in charge in that manner, so I’m disappointed and disconsolate. But good things can happen out of tough times like this and we can move forward from this.

"It’s going to take a day or two to get over it. We’ll have reformulate some plans in terms of how we play the West Indian bowling and also some plans for their batsmen as well. This is a time for cool heads."

"Kevin Pietersen was the key wicket for us," Chris Gayle, the West Indies captain, said, referring to Taylor’s uprooting of the former captain’s off stump when he had made only one. "He’s their main batter, he has been getting the runs for them over the last couple of series and we decided not to relax after we got him out."

Taylor, who was named man of the match, added: "Each and every wicket is a big moment for me. I wouldn’t say it was my best ever spell, I have bowled well in the past and I knew I had it in me to get the ball in the right area." (Guardian)