Rory Burns insists England must absorb West Indies pressure and hit back

Burns was the only England batsman to show the required resolve in their 381-run defeat in Barbados

Have England learned? That was the burning question as they took to the nets at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium ahead of a Second Test that – for their own dignity if nothing else – simply must be won. The West Indies, 1-0 up with two to play, scent a series triumph, and on a freshly-watered surface will back their four-man pace battery to expose the cracks in the England batting order. It will be up to the likes of Rory Burns, meanwhile, to thwart them.

Burns was the only England batsman to show the required resolve in their 381-run defeat in Barbados, scoring a counter-attacking 84 in the second innings. And two days out from the Test, he spoke of how England need to “transfer the pressure” back onto the hosts to avoid getting caught cold a second time.

“I was pleased with how I played, but also disappointed to miss out on a century, from a selfish point of view,” Burns said, beads of sweat still glistening on his brow after a tough training session in the midday heat. “In between the first and second innings I made a slight alteration in between my own ears of how I was going about it. With the tempo I played at, and the sort of pressure I managed to transfer, I thought I played quite nicely.”

Captain Joe Root talks a lot about “adapting” to conditions, especially in an age where warm-up time is scarce. England clearly adapted very poorly in Barbados, but there were signs early in their second innings – before they crumbled like a poorly-made ganache against the spin of Roston Chase – that they were beginning to find their feet. “It’s only going to help having a view of their bowlers,” Burns said. “They’ve all got their own nuances, and I tried to use that to my advantage.”

Burns and Keaton Jennings put on 85 for the first wicket, and despite the mounting pressure on his opening partner, Burns backed him to play in Antigua. The pair dined together on Monday night, and he insisted that their partnership was beginning to flourish. “We put on 85, so it’s going in the right direction,” he said. “It was our best partnership so far, and something to build on. Our relationship is very good.”

If England weren’t startled by the pace of the West Indies attack, they were certainly taken aback by its intensity: the relentless accuracy of Kemar Roach and Jason Holder, the sustained aggression of Alzarri Joseph and Shannon Gabriel. Root, Moeen Ali and Sam Curran, to name just three, certainly struggled to cope with some of the more hostile stuff. And Burns said England needed to match that level of intensity, to bat time, to force the bad ball.

“It’s about being able to absorb a lot of pressure,” Burns said. “They bowled very well first innings. I was out there for 25 balls and I can’t remember getting one to hit, really. Sometimes you’ve got to absorb that pressure and counteract it. When you do that, you get bad balls and you can put them away.”

There certainly seemed to be very little brooding over Barbados within the England camp – “you’ve got to park it and move on,” Burns insisted. Nevertheless, it will take more than one Test to wipe clean the memories of their surrender there, to put to bed the issue of why England seem so intrinsically brittle, so close to catastrophe, so ripe for collapse. Have England learned? Probably. Will they ever learn? That’s a question we won’t be able to answer for some time yet.