Skipper Strauss targets four straight Ashes wins
ENGLAND captain Andrew Strauss insists there are still plenty of goals left for him to accomplish in Test cricket and is targeting becoming the first post-war skipper to win four successive Ashes series.
The prospect of Strauss, who helped mastermind England’s series wins over Australia in 2009 and 2011, achieving that ambition has been made possible by the scheduling of back-to-back Ashes series in 2013-14.
The 34-year-old will be well into the veteran stage of his career by then and admits he will have to take stock this time next year before committing to the grueling task of leading the side twice more against the Baggy Greens.
“Playing in back-to-back Ashes tours would be a realistic goal,” said Strauss. “But I’m not going to say that is definitely what will happen. There’s a lot of cricket to be played between now and then. We’ll see where we are in 12 months, then go from there.”
Strauss’s immediate focus centres on challenging winter tours against Pakistan and Sri Lanka and he will take one series at a time in order to prolong his international career.
He said: “From my point of view if I take it one series at a time then hopefully I will be playing well enough to stay in the side a while yet.”