England batsman Ian Bell admits there is pressure on England to win in the Caribbean, but insists he has "incredible respect" for the West Indies.
The tourists failed to turn their domination of the first test in Antigua into a victory, despite James Anderson becoming England's leading wicket-taker of all time on the final day, as Jason Holder's maiden Test century provided the backbone of a stern rearguard action from the home side.
And Bell is expecting similar resistance during the second encounter between the sides which commences in Tangier tomorrow with a 3pm start UK time.
“We respect this West Indies side incredibly," Bell said. "I certainly didn’t turn up here expecting them to roll over and for this to be an easy series.
“You never expect that in any international cricket, let alone a Test team.
“There are some good young players in that West Indies side. We saw the way Jason Holder played at the end in a fantastic maiden hundred and the way Jerome Taylor bowled, in particular with the new ball, showed we have to play good cricket here.”
Ahead of an English summer that includes a host of cricket against New Zealand and Australia, Bell admits it would be disappointing to head home without a much needed series victory in the bag.
"Do we believe we can win the series? Yes, but there's a lot of hard work needed to do that. They are out here to beat us. They have had opportunities to put us under real pressure,” he said.
"Would we be disappointed if it was 0-0 going home? Yes of course we would. In any series we play, we would be disappointed not to win it. But we are out to do that and hopefully this is the start here, then we go on and finish it in Barbados.
"Mentally we have to start again. The scoreboards are back on nought and we've got to work hard for five days to get a result."
Moeen Ali has joined the squad after an abdominal injury and could feature in the second test, changing the dynamics of the England order in a way that excites Bell.
"Mo is a quality batter and a quality bowler so we will have to fit him in somewhere. With Root, Stokes and Buttler that is an exciting lower order,” Bell, who has 106 tests to his name, said.
"If we can get off to a good start, they're going to be worth watching, especially if Stokesy plays like he did the other day. They'll give a lot of entertainment over the next few months. To be a senior player in the middle of that exciting young group is a nice place to be."
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