SYDNEY – England’s Ashes series winners have yet to reach their peak, victorious captain Andrew Strauss said after his team’s thumping final Test victory over Australia on Friday. England’s emphatic innings and 83-run victory in the Sydney Test completed a 3-1 series rout of the sorry Australians for their third win in the past four Ashes series. Strauss and coach Andy Flower were the masterminds behind England’s powerful showing, which has raised hopes they will ultimately challenge to become the top team in world cricket. England are currently ranked third in Test cricket behind India and South Africa, with Australia sliding to fifth after their sixth defeat in their past eight Tests. Looking ahead to the next Ashes series in England in 2013, Strauss said: “It’s impossible to look into your crystal ball and know what’s going to come.
“There are going to be injuries, other guys are going to put their hands up and want to be part of the team. “The majority of the team are going to be hitting their peak time in the next couple of years and that’s encouraging for us.” But Strauss is not prepared to stand still and bask in the achievement of England’s first series triumph in Australia for 24 years. “We’ve always got to be thinking about how we can improve and get better and hopefully one or two guys will be sticking their hands up and saying ‘I can add something to this team as well’,” he said. “Clearly it’s a very good achievement to come out here and win. Equally clearly the captain’s only as good as the team he’s got.
“I think when I retire, I’ll sit back and think that was one of the most special times of my career, definitely. “While I’m captain of the England side, you’re not doing your job if you’re not looking ahead to what’s coming ahead and trying to keep the guys improving and going forward. Strauss was cautious not to be too bold and declare he will captain England against Australia in over two years’ time.
“I think the more you do the job, the more you learn. The more you learn, the more you develop your tactics, your thinking the way you interact with people,” he said. “Definitely experience accounts for a huge amount. I’ve been doing the job for a couple of years now, hopefully there’s a couple left there as well.” England had some special performances in the series with Strauss’s opening batting partner,
Alastair Cook, named man of the series. Cook was the series topscorer with 766 at 127.66, second only to Wally Hammond’s 905 in 1928-29 for most runs for England in a series in Australia. James Anderson finished the series with 24 wickets, the most by any England bowler since Frank Tyson took 28 in 1954-5. Wicketkeeper Matt Prior took 23 catches in the series and smashed the fastest century for England since Ian Botham in 1981 with his hundred off 109 balls in Sydney.
