Strauss predicts great Test

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The hosts will start as underdogs at The Oval but Strauss believes that will give them added incentive to prove they can compete on every level with the Australians.

"I think we're good at that (being underdogs)," he said. "We've shown that in the past and I think we can take a lot of confidence from the fact it's 1-1 in the series at the moment. It's probably where both teams deserve to be at the moment."

He added: "There's no reason for us to be negative at all. We got on top of them twice in the series and we need to do that once more."

This Ashes series has been closely contested apart from England's disastrous showing at Headingley.

And Strauss insists they have learnt their lesson from that dismal batting performance in the last Test.

"It's the Ashes and its pretty hard not to be motivated," he said. "It's a special occasion for all of us. Hopefully the crowd will get right behind us.

"It's got the potential to be one of the greatest Test matches any of us have ever played.

"We're all pretty excited at it and hopefully we've learnt a lesson from Headingley and we're not going to get ahead of ourselves.

"We'll make sure we start the game well and if we do that then we've got a good chance."