England captain Andrew Strauss has hit back at comments from West Indies counterpart Chris Gayle concerning the future of Test cricket.

Gayle told Strauss not to "sleep with Chris on his mind" following the England skipper's remarks about the Jamaican's late arrival for the current Test series between the two sides. He also admitted he would not be sad if Test cricket died out and Twenty20 took over as the prime format of the game.

Strauss told Sky Sports News: "I was answering a question about the future of Test cricket. I believe very strongly Test cricket should be the ultimate form of the game and therefore we should prepare for Test matches in a manner befitting that."

He added: "Chris' views on Test cricket and the future of that are his own opinion and I don't really get drawn into that. The last thing I want to concentrate on is what is happening with the West Indies squad, that is not of great importance to us really."

But he added: "I feel if our players turned up two days before that wouldn't give us enough time to prepare properly.

"The West Indies might feel different about that but that is their own decision. All we should concern ourselves with is our own preparation and two days is not a long time.

"Every player has their own opinion on these things and the fact he [Gayle] is playing a lot of Twenty20 cricket and I am not maybe clouds our judgement on these things.

"For me personally I think Test cricket is the ultimate form of the game. I think it is a true test of character, temperament and technique and I think the majority of cricketers around the world still think that.

"Hopefully that is the case and hopefully there are not more and more players that don't want to play Test cricket. I think that would be a very sad day for the game."