Surrey's Mark Ramprakash says England must stick by their batsman despite some poor scores by their top players this winter.

Ramprakash, 38, only just missed out on a place on the tours to Sri Lanka and New Zealand.

He told BBC London 94.9: "They're all quality batsman but you can have quiet periods in your career.

"There are times when you might get two hundreds in two games, Strauss and Pieterson have done that."

He added: "There are times, like the Test series in Sri Lanka and now in New Zealand conditions, that they are finding it hard work.

"There's pressure on every Test match and the batsman have had a tough time of it. So far the first match was on a very slow picth and the second one saw the ball move around.

"It may well be that the third wicket is similar to that and you may need a bit of luck.

"But what do you do when you are confronted with those situations? You just have to work hard.

"Keep your game simple and guts it out. Andrew Strauss is not particularly fluent right now but he's certainly trying to guts it out and the more time they spend at the crease, hopefully, they will find their touch."