Strauss set to plot Ashes strategy

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The England captain guided his side to an emphatic 58-run victory over West Indies in the deciding match of the NatWest Series at Edgbaston on Tuesday before he begins the build-up to the opening Test in Cardiff on July 8.

"In international cricket you have to put in performances day in, day out and over the last month or so we've been able to do that," enthused Strauss.

While the rest of England's squad moves on to the ICC World Twenty20 tournament, which begins next week, Strauss can take a well-earned break before playing championship cricket for Middlesex having led his side to Test and one-day series wins over the tourists.

But before he turns his focus completely towards the Ashes, Strauss has warned that England still have plenty of room for improvement despite dominating West Indies for the last few weeks.

Strauss added: "There haven't been a lot of negatives to come out, but there are clearly tougher tests ahead for us. We are far from the finished article at this stage but what I am really excited about is that the guys are very keen to improve.

"The work ethic has been tremendous over the last few months. Everything that has happened over the last month can only help us come the first day of the Ashes but it would be wrong to assume just because we won a few games here we will stroll through it - we know it will be a hard competition for us."

Strauss has been excused Twenty20 duty with Middlesex over the next couple of weeks and could play two championship matches before he meets up again with the England squad in Cardiff.

Between now and then he will attempt to complete his own preparation for the main focus of the summer and hope England can maintain their momentum in the World Twenty20, when they will be led again by Durham all-rounder Paul Collingwood.

"We've already done a fair amount of planning and we need to take that to the final stage so that when we meet up prior to the Ashes starting that all the 'T's are crossed and 'I's dotted so that we are 100% comfortable at where we need to be come that first Test match," said Strauss.