Strauss keen to move on

Andrew Strauss is concentrating solely on England's one-day fixtures © Getty Images

Captain Andrew Strauss has told his England colleagues they have a responsibility to consign the fourth npower Test to history as quickly as possible.

England take on Pakistan in the NatWest Twenty20 international at Bristol, with the five-match NatWest Series beginning two days later in Cardiff.

And Strauss believes it is the perfect chance to alter the agenda for the sport’s most-talked about topic.

The Pakistanis only confirmed their participation in the limited-overs section of the tour last Friday, following a sensational few days which began with allegations of ball tampering and a first forfeiture in Test history.

“I don’t think anyone wants to see a cricket game finish in that manner and it wasn’t a great week for cricket, full stop,” said Strauss.

“Looking forward, it’s probably an opportunity, and responsibility of ours, to get cricket back in the news for the right reasons.

“From our point of view we have been trying to prepare ourselves as well as possible for the one-day series.

Strauss insists relations between England and Pakistan remain good © Getty Images

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“Most things that have gone on this week have been out of our control and it is not something we really want to get involved with. We need to hit the ground running this week.”

Pakistan’s one-day contests here five years ago were tainted by crowd trouble and pitch invasions but there was no suggestion of unrest in the npower Test series and relations have also been good on the field.

“The crowd behaviour has been excellent through the Test series and we all want to see a good atmosphere at the grounds and the crowds getting stuck in,” said Strauss.

“But we don’t want to see anyone going over the top and I suppose the players have a responsibility to ensure we don’t do anything to incite the crowd either.

“There have not been any problems between the two sides. There is a bit of respect there between the players and there have not been any issues between us at all.

“What has happened is nothing to do with England players at all from my point of view, so hopefully the spirit that the game has been played in will continue in the one-dayers as well.”

Strauss insisted those in the home dressing room had not even considered ball tampering when umpires Darrell Hair and Billy Doctrove penalised Pakistan in mid-afternoon on the fourth day.

Youngster Stuart Broad may make his senior England debut at Bristol © Getty Images

“No, it wasn’t (thought about),” said Strauss. “We obviously got ourselves in a pretty dodgy position in the game so we spent a lot of time and thought on trying to extricate ourselves from the situation.

“These sorts of things are best left to the officials rather than players.

“Once we knew the series was going ahead as planned it was important to prepare ourselves both mentally and physically for what is coming up.”

England have been below-par in the shortened form of the game recently - the 5-0 whitewashing by Sri Lanka earlier this summer means they have won only four of their last 19 contests, one against Ireland and two in dead rubbers against Pakistan and India respectively.

“We have more than enough motivation to perform and give the series a really good go,” said Strauss.

“We need to make improvements from our defeat to Sri Lanka before a very busy winter of international cricket.”

England may hand a first international cap to Stuart Broad at Bristol while Darren Gough, 36 next month and at the other end of the career spectrum, could return following a year’s absence.