Strauss: Best times ahead

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The 31-year-old arrived in Hamilton with the England squad ahead of Wednesday's opening Test with New Zealand at Seddon Park boosted by a century in the final warm-up match against a Select XI and despite going 25 Test innings without a century, Strauss is certain his best days are to come.

"It's about getting into that mental zone when you get into your little bubble and you don't let people affect that," said Strauss. "If I can get into that frame of mind, I don't see any reason why the best years of my Test career shouldn't be ahead of me rather than behind me."

"I don't feel I'm batting worse now than I did earlier in my career and in some ways I've improved technically," he added.

"At the end of last season I was maybe too conscious of trying to get a score because I wasn't playing well and because I wanted to get a score I went outside of my gameplan a little bit.

"On reflection I think that's what happened and maybe having had a bit of time out you can sit back and reflect and learn a lesson from it."

England were given the day off following their trip from Dunedin but will train on Monday morning when the fitness of all-rounder Paul Collingwood and left-arm seamer Ryan Sidebottom will be tested.

Collingwood managed to bat in the drawn match against a Select XI after aggravating his right hamstring while Sidebottom missed the game altogether with an identical problem but England are sure they will both be available for selection.

"We're very confident about them," added Strauss. "They both had a good run around yesterday and it's looking positive but we'll wait and see."