England know the hard work is staying at top

CRICKET:THERE IS still another match to go in this series, so the precise calculations and official confirmation must wait. But as from now England are indisputably the number one ranked side in the world. "No doubt about it," as Duncan Fletcher would say.

England’s former coach, the fellow who oversaw the beginning of the reformation that led to the top, is now the man who has sat stony-faced on the balcony of the visitors’ dressing room as his former charges have dismantled his current brood of superstars yet again.

England cannot have climbed the final path to the summit in finer style, humiliating the Australians in their backyard last winter and now dismantling India at home.

It has been relentless, uncompromising, brutal at times, and for gob-smacked England supporters of long standing, used to the Feydeau-farce selection policies and inept performances of the last decades of the previous millennium, it has been utterly and disbelievingly compelling.

Andrew Strauss and his team can be proud of what they have achieved, success based not on fancy individuality that can often prove a distraction but blue-collar values of hard work, skills, team ethic, dedication and application. They enjoy their personal success but more than that, they revel in that of their colleagues. The moment has been hard-earned and they deserve to celebrate accordingly.

Yet before the open-top buses are brought from the garage and the gongs polished, a sense of perspective is needed. England’s position, while a reflection of the manner in which they have played their cricket, also tells a story of a decline in the standard at the top, where for three decades first West Indies and then Australia set the standard by which all teams are now measured.

England’s current points ranking – which will change upwards at the end of the series – is 117, a point behind South Africa, ranked second to India. Five years ago, England’s ranking was two points higher, and they were in second place. Or rather, daylight was second, so far ahead were the Australians.

It mattered not who was second then because it was never a topic of conversation. Now the rankings are in a state of flux and they will very likely remain so for 18 months to two years, their volatility almost a metaphor for global financial uncertainties. As the Indian opener Gautam Gambhir remarked the other day: “Getting to number one is the easy part. Staying there is more difficult.” For Strauss and Andy Flower, this is just genesis, a point Strauss was making even before the champagne corks flew.

“Just because the rankings tell us we’re number one, that doesn’t mean our job’s over. There’s a huge task ahead of us to stay number one.”

Strauss does not claim to understand any better than millions of others the statistical calculations which have resulted in England’s table-topping status. But as with one-day cricket’s Duckworth-Lewis method, he is prepared to trust the number-crunchers.

“It is valuable, because everyone wants to be number one. You’d be mad if being number one wasn’t a goal of yours as a side. But it can go away as quickly as it arrives, so you can’t just sit there patting yourself on the back too much.

“You’ve got to keep looking forward. That’s the nature of international sport.”

Suggestions that Strauss can, by implication, also claim to be the world’s number one captain or that he and Alastair Cook are the best opening pair find short shrift because they go against the grain of an all-for-one ethos.

Asked about his pre-eminent leadership skills, he added: “That is not a ranking that is out there, and it’s not one I’m interested in.

“We’re not interested in individual milestones or accolades.

“Any achievements we’ve made as a side have been very collective. They’re to do with our team ethic, the fact that everyone’s bought into something special as a group of players.

“The individuals have almost been secondary to that – whether it’s me, whether it’s Alastair getting all his runs, whether it’s Jimmy Anderson getting all his wickets.

“That’s secondary to how the team’s functioning, and it’s very important that we continue in the same vein. It’s been a great privilege for me to captain the side the last couple of years.

“I think my job’s been very easy, and that’s because of the individuals involved – not just in the side but the support staff and Andy Flower in particular.”