LONDON (AP):

Former captain and batting great, Graham Gooch, blamed poor preparation, the lack of a full-time coach and the distraction of the Indian Premier League (IPL) auction for England's disastrous 51 all out and its innings defeat to the West Indies.

England slumped to their third-lowest score in Test cricket in Kingston, Jamaica, on Saturday and the West Indies won the first of four matches by an innings and 23 runs at Sabina Park with a day to spare.

Humiliating performance

While the headlines back home said the performance was humiliating and a disgrace, Gooch sought to find reasons for the defeat in England's first match since the crisis of a month ago, when Kevin Pietersen quit as captain and coach Peter Moores was fired.

Gooch said he believed that Friday's IPL auction of players ahead of this season's Twenty20 competition in India also contributed to England's poor performance in Kingston. Allowed by the England cricket board to play in the competition, players such as Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff fetched record salaries of US$1.55 million each at the auction, which also involved other Test and one-day stars.

"The England team say there has been no distraction with the IPL," Gooch said. "But when all these background influences are going on, it's not the best environment to give your best performances.

"For Andrew Strauss to say it's hardly been mentioned doesn't seem believable to me. I'm sure the IPL has come into the background in discussions."

Gooch said he was not happy with the team's leadership with no full-time coach with the team in the Caribbean.

Deferred decision

England appointed opener Andrew Strauss as captain instead of Pietersen, but deferred a decision on Moores' replacement. Former Zimbabwe star, Andy Flower, has the role on a short-term basis.

"You've got to give massive credit to the West Indies for turning in a fantastic performance on the back of losing 19 of their previous 30 matches," said Gooch, the only player to have scored a triple century and a century in the same Test.

"Having said that, there are a lot of things of concern about English cricket, not least the fact that England haven't got a steady hand on the tiller. I don't know how permanent the captaincy appointment is and they haven't got a permanent coach. It does worry you about the direction they're going in and whether the team is just standing still and not going forward."

Gooch also said that England had played very little cricket ahead of the first Test.

"It's an issue that comes up every tour," he said. "I always think England teams are undercooked when they go into Test series.

"They play a couple of matches, but I don't think that's adequate practice for a full-blown Test series. Batsmen need to get runs under their belt and bowlers need to get their run-ups sorted out and get that rhythm as well."