London: England would be keen to finish the summer on a high note by also remaining unbeaten in the upcoming ODI series against world champions India, said Test skipper Andrew Strauss after handing out the visitors a 4-0 whitewash.
"It`s an opportunity to take on the World Cup winners. There`s plenty to be excited about. We are very keen to finish the summer again being unbeaten," said Strauss after England defeated India by an innings and eight runs in the Oval Test to pocket the series 4-0.
"We`ve had plenty of questions asked of us, and we`ve answered those questions. But we`ve got to start looking towards the winter now," he stressed.
With the Oval win, England have now scored five innings victory in the last 10 months and Strauss said they don`t plan any let-up in their methods.
"It`s a nice habit to have. A lot our innings win have come on the back of outstanding bowling and batsmen getting stuck in. If you get to a stage halfway through the Test when one side is really struggling, then often you can go ahead and win comfortably.”
"The first half of the Test is always crucial and I think it`s been a long time since we`ve been a long way behind in the first half," he said.
Strauss spoke of the frustration of his side when overnight pair of Sachin Tendulkar and Amit Mishra stayed put till first half an hour after lunch.
"It looked for a while as though it would be Tendulkar`s day. The morning session was very frustrating-when a guy like Mishra gets stuck in for as long as he did, you start questioning is the wicket dead?"
"We were creating half-chances and there were plenty of plays and misses. We needed to keep patience. We were lucky to get three bursts before the new ball and then things happened very quickly," he added.
Strauss said his side`s performance in the present series exceeded the expectations.
"It did exceed expectations for how well our individuals played. Our batsmen got big scores, the number of bowlers who stuck their hands up at different times. It was very impressive and a good springboard for further success."
The England captain was specially proud of the way his side was prepared to work hard in the Oval Test even though they were 3-0 up in the series.
"There is that temptation to take your foot of the gas a little bit. In actual fact we probably had to work harder for this one than any of the others because we had to spend so long in the field having made them follow-on.”
"That`s what I`m most proud about; the guys were prepared to do that even when they didn’t really have to. I think that bodes well for the future."
PTI
