Strauss demands improvement

England captain Andrew Strauss admitted his side was 'nowhere near' producing the level of consistency he is demanding of it despite winning the final match of the one-day series against Australia.

England avoided the humiliation of a 7-0 whitewash defeat after it claimed a four-wicket win at the Riverside.

The victory was built on Graeme Swann's five for 28 as Australia was bowled out for just 176 in 45.5 overs batting first.

While Strauss (47) and his opening partner Joe Denly (53) put on 106 for the first wicket, England made hard work of the chase before eventually surpassing the Australian total six wickets down.

Strauss admitted that claiming back the Ashes was the summer's prime objective, but he said the 6-1 one-day series defeat left it with plenty to ponder.

"This (series) has served as a timely reminder that as a side, we are nowhere near where we want to be, either in Test cricket or one-day cricket," Strauss said.

"It brings your feet back down to earth, that's for sure. In international cricket, you have always got to keep looking forward, you can't bask in anything you have done previously anyway."

"We are still going to hold on to that Ashes victory because it was very special and if you don't get excited about those victories, then you are not going to get excited about anything."

"We can be proud of ourselves the way we played in the Ashes, and as a Test side, we have got a lot of the component parts in place; as a one-day side, it's clear we have got some work to do still."

Strauss admitted his relief at England breaking its series duck on Sunday, and hopes it will give it some much-needed confidence with its first match of the Champions Trophy against Sri Lanka just five days away.

"It is a bit of a relief, if I am honest, but we are not going to get carried away with it - we still lost the series 6-1," he said.

"But it was a good bowling performance today. Graeme Swann produced a fantastic spell of spin bowling, mixing it up and giving it a rip."

"To bowl them out for 176, you would back yourself to chase that just about every time."

"But we probably still made heavier weather of it than we should have done. But it's a win and something to move forward with."