http://uk.rd.yahoo.com/sports/providers/reuters/SIG=114rh0n4s/**http%3A%2F%2Fwww.reuters.co.uk%2F(REUTERS) – England must forget the Ashes success and focus on becoming the best team in the world, their captain Andrew Strauss said yesterday.
England face Sri Lanka in the first match of a three-Test series starting today 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 straightaway 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 is resting on laurels or anything like that. We need to hit the 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 Tillakaratne 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 early season 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. 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,” Dilshan told reporters.
Teams:
England (probable): Strauss, Cook, Trott, Pietersen, Bell, Morgan, Prior, Broad, Swann, Anderson, Tremlett.
Sri Lanka (from): Paranavitana, Dilshan, Sangakkara, M. Jayawardene, Samaraweera, P. Jayawardene, Maharoof, Perera, Herath, Fernando, Welegedera, Lakmal.