England cricket captain Andrew Strauss has challenged his side to keep improving and insists 'getting to No.1 in the world rankings is nothing'.
Strauss’ men are in Dubai ahead of a three-Test series against Pakistan, which will be their first since they rose to the top of the ICC rankings last summer.
Pakistan have overcome the controversy of the spot-fixing scandal to play some impressive cricket, sealing Test-series victories against Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
It means England will have to be at their best in alien conditions if they are to maintain their position at the top, and Strauss is keen to avoid any complacency among his squad.
‘The only way to ensure it is to make sure you’re just as desperate to go on and improve as you were a year or two ago,’ said Strauss.
‘Getting to No.1 in the rankings is nothing, really. It’s your name on a piece of paper, that’s all.
‘There’s always a new challenge ahead of you, this one coming up against Pakistan is a very stern challenge and whenever an England side go to the subcontinent it’s a challenge anyway because it requires a different set of skills to win out here.
‘This series comes at a good time for us. We’re confident, we’ve been playing a lot of good cricket recently.
‘If we’re at all complacent we’ll come unstuck pretty quickly.’
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