Strauss not thinking about captaincy

Andrew Strauss accepts England have "one final chance" to salvage something from their winter programme but denies his captaincy is on a similar knife-edge.

After the highs of last summer, when a 4-0 whitewash of India saw England reach the summit of the ICC's Test rankings, 2012 has started in somewhat ignominious fashion with four straight Test defeats..

"It hasn't gone according to plan, certainly," he said. "We haven't been as consistent as we'd like to be but we've got one final chance to salvage something from the winter to allow us to go into the summer with some momentum."

He added: "(The captaincy) is not something I've considered. Going into this game, it's really not something on my mind. People are always entitled to their opinions but I don't necessarily share them.

"The pressure is no more than normal. I want to score some runs, there is no doubt about that, but I'm very confident and I think we have the materials to do well in this Test.

"We're very motivated to show that we can play a lot better than we have so far on this tour, and that's what we'll be doing over the next five days."

Reflecting on what has been the most trying period of his three-year reign, Strauss readily admitted it was an inevitable part of the job.

It is also one he feels well equipped to confront.

"When you play cricket for any length of time, you realise there will always be some story running in the background," he said.

"Sometimes it will be about yourself, sometimes it will be about other people. The most important thing is that you don't let it distract you and you concentrate on what is important, which is getting your own game in order and making sure the rest of the team are in order as well."