Andrew Strauss - Captain sensible

Paul Hayward talks to England captain Andrew Strauss about the victorious Ashes campaign, the disastrous ODIs that followed and the tough tour of South Africa coming up. Head to the Observer for more.

Consider this, from the England captain: "I remember seeing a comment from Ricky Ponting where he said: 'I'd much rather be in my shoes than Strauss's at this stage,' and I could understand why he said that, but I was also thinking in the back of my mind: 'Well, they're in a slightly dangerous place at the moment, Australia. If we can start the game well we might surprise them.' That was the crucial part: to start the game well and exorcise those demons.

"I've always felt it's a bit dangerous when everyone's telling you you're going to win the series and you're in control of events – the stuff they were telling Ponting. Subconsciously at least, there is that temptation for players to take their foot off the gas a bit or think it's already won. So I didn't mind that we were in a bit of a dogfight and had to prove ourselves because we've always played quite well in those circumstances.