CRICKET:ANDREW STRAUSS has called on his England players to put their Ashes glory behind them and begin a new chapter when they face Sri Lanka today.

It is less than five months since the opener led his side to a triumphant 3-1 series win in Australia, but Strauss is keen to draw a line under the recent past and continue the push to become the best side in the world.

Victory over Sri Lanka and current number ones India, who arrive later this summer, would go a long way to realising that aim, and Strauss believes that is more important than lingering on previous successes.

“To be honest, this is not a homecoming. If we were going to have a homecoming, that would have taken place a long time ago,” he said.

“This is the start of a new cycle in a way. It is the start of a very busy and difficult summer for us and it is hopefully an opportunity for us to make a step forward to becoming number one in the world.

“That excites us, and I think for us to be thinking too much back to what happened in Sydney at this stage is not helpful.

“We have got to learn lessons from what we did well in Australia and put those into practice again, but our goals have shifted completely now.

“We achieved quite an important goal for us as a side – to win out there in Australia – but our goals now have turned towards this summer and beyond.”

While Strauss’ stated aim has long been discussed, it is now a more achievable one than ever before.

Nonetheless, the 34-year-old, who is concentrating exclusively on the longer format after retiring from the one-day side following the World Cup, is all too aware it will not be an easy goal to realise.

“I think we are not going to worry about staying there at number one for now. The key is to get there,” he said. “We are some way off that and it might take us a long time to get there.

“Certainly if we drift into the summer and don’t hit top gear straight away it could seem like a long way off.”

Strauss also moved to back his fragile trump card Kevin Pietersen.

Pietersen was in defiant mood at a media conference yesterday, defending his hunger for the game and dismissing those who portray him as a celebrity first and a sportsman second.

He did, though, decline to comment on extracts from Strauss’ coming Ashes diary that suggested Pietersen “wants desperately to be liked, but does not know the best way around it”.

Asked about those words himself, Strauss was wholly supportive of his predecessor as skipper.

“Kevin and I have spoken about a number of things a few days ago,” he said. “The point I was trying to make (in the book) was that everything KP does is analysed to the Nth degree. The perception of him outside the dressingroom is often very different to the perception of him inside.

“He’s been a massive part of our success over last five or six years and I have no doubt whatsoever he will continue to be so for years to come.”

England will line up with Dublin’s Eoin Morgan in place of the retired Paul Collingwood, while seamer Steven Finn is expected to be the odd man out of the 12-man squad.

ENGLAND (from): A Strauss (capt), A Cook, J Anderson, I Bell, S Broad, S Finn, E Morgan, K Pietersen, M Prior (wkt), G Swann, C Tremlett, J Trott.

SRI LANKA (from): T Dilshan (capt), D Chandimal, D Fernando, R Herath, M Jayawardene, P Jayawardene (wkt), S Randiv, S Lakmal, F Maharoof, A Mendis, T Paranavitana, T Perera, T Samaraweera, T Sangakkara, C Welegedara, L Thirimanne, K Silva (wkt).

Umpires: A Dar (Pak), B Doctrove (W Ind).