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Andrew Strauss sets his field - Source: Reuters
England must forget the Ashes success and focus on becoming the best team in the world, their captain Andrew Strauss said today.
England face Sri Lanka in the first match of a three-test series starting on Thursday before taking on India, test cricket's number one-ranked team, and Strauss said they should not dwell on the 3-1 victory in Australia.
"This is the start of a new cycle in a way," Strauss told reporters. "It's the start of a very busy and difficult summer for us and it is an opportunity for us to make a step forward to becoming number one in the world.
"That excites us and I think for us to be thinking too much back to what happened in Sydney at this stage is not helpful. It is the only way we can look at it."
Strauss said England should learn from what went well in Australia but recognise that they have new targets.
"We achieved quite an important goal for us as a side to win out there in Australia but our goals now have turned towards this summer and beyond," he said.
Although Sri Lanka's interim coach Stuart Law has said that England have played the best test cricket over the last 18 months, Strauss said more consistency was needed.
"We are some way off (number one) and it might take us a long time to get there and certainly if we drift into the summer and don't hit top gear straight away that could seem like a long way off," Strauss added.
"The motivation for us now is to take the next step. I will be very disappointed if any of the players are resting on laurels or anything like that. We need to hit ground running -- there is no doubt about that."
Sri Lanka said they would await the results of a fitness test on fast bowler Dilhara Fernando before deciding their final team. Suranga Lakmal is on standby.
New captain Tillakeratne Dilshan said Sri Lanka were looking forward to playing a first test match outside of Asia in more than three years, rather than fearing the conditions. They won their two warm-up matches against Middlesex and England Lions.
"It's not easy playing here early summer but as cricketers we have to take on this challenge even though we haven't played outside home (Asia) for a long time," Dilshan told reporters.
"The last series (2006) we drew here and we have had good preparations this time. The last two matches we have played well in the bowling and batting departments."
Sri Lanka are without world record wicket-taker Muttiah Muralitharan who retired from test cricket last year.
Murali's absence means Sri Lanka must select two bowlers,
instead of one, to make up for his absence.
"We have to play six batsmen and five bowlers (instead of four) now
as Murali normally bowled 40 overs every day," said
Dilshan.
"Now we don't have that type of bowler, so we need to have five
bowlers in our team."
Off-spinner Muralitharan claimed 800 test wickets in a 133-match
career that began in 1992 and ended last July, helping take Sri
Lanka from the bottom-ranked test team to one of the most
competitive.
His attacking threat has been sorely missed with Sri Lanka having
failed to win any of their five tests since he quit.
"We can't find another Murali in Sri Lanka, he was a special guy
for international cricket," added Dilshan.
"But we have two young off-spinners in (Ajantha) Mendis and Suraj
(Randiv), so if we can get the maximum out of them it might be good
for our future."
The fact neither Mendis or Randiv have been included in Sri Lanka's
12-man squad for the first test demonstrates the lack of faith that
is currently invested in them. Left-arm spinner Rangana Herath is
the only slow bowler in the squad.
Mendis, 26, made an immediate impact in international one-day
cricket but none of his 15 tests have been played outside of
Asia.
Sri Lanka have won two of their 10 test matches in England - at The
Oval in 1998 and Trent Bridge in 2006 - and both wins were only
possible due to the fizzing ball Muralitharan bowled.
He claimed 16 wickets at The Oval, including second innings
analysis of nine for 65 from 54.2 overs, while his eight second
innings wickets at Trent Bridge bowled Sri Lanka to a
series-levelling win.
When Strauss was asked to judge the challenge Sri Lanka faced
without the world record holder he said: "that's not our problem"
and talked up the current team.
When pushed, though, Strauss could not deny the obvious difference
in quality between a Sri Lanka bowling attack containing Murali and
one that does not.
"I only faced him in three test matches but it was one of the great
challenges of my career," he said.
"We all know what he achieved in the game and those boots are big
boots to fill. But a lot of the time they are filled if not by one
person then by a number of different people chipping in.
"One thing about the Sri Lankans, they are always competitive and
they are good, street-smart cricketers. They will be very hard to
overcome."
