Cricket: Strauss Hopes to Build Momentum

England's injury epidemic might have given a whole new meaning to the old cliche about a team in transition but Andrew Strauss is convinced his side can still be a match for anyone as they embark on the five-match NatWest Series against Sri Lanka, starting at Lord's today.

Since his players are dropping like flies - Glen Chapple and Ed Joyce are the latest casualties - and Strauss has inherited the captaincy because of injury to Andrew Flintoff, who was a stand-in himself for Michael Vaughan, his comments had a slightly surreal air. And yesterday, following the ankle injury sustained by Joyce during Thursday's Twenty20 defeat at the Rose Bowl, Duncan Fletcher struck a slightly desperate note when he admitted: "I don't know where we turn to."

But with the next World Cup beginning in March, Strauss knows time is running out. "We've got an opportunity here to start getting some momentum," he said. "The injuries mean we haven't been playing our full side but, if we're honest, we haven't been playing to our capabilities. We did pretty well against Australia last year and that just shows that we're capable of beating any side in the world. All we have to do now is get that consistency."

That is easier said than done, especially against a Sri Lanka side able to add Chaminda Vaas, who has just spent a week at home visiting his sick son, and Muttiah Muralitharan, who is recovering from a fever, to the team that won on Thursday. Added to that is the grim statistic that Fletcher's six-year reign as coach has encompassed 34 wins and 61 defeats in meaningful one-day internationals.

"The first few games against Sri Lanka are going to prove what sort of form we're in as a side and how much further we've got to go," said Strauss, who says he expects to captain the side throughout the NatWest Series, despite Vaughan's recuperation in county cricket. "There's no reason to expect that we can't win this series quite convincingly."

If that is to happen, England will have to do it without the services of Joyce, who will undergo a further scan next week to determine the extent of the soft-tissue damage to his right ankle with the initial diagnosis being that he will be out for "two to six weeks". Either way, England will not replace him for the time being.

Joyce also had to contend with some barracking from a spectator after he sprained his ankle in dropping Sanath Jayasuriya on the third-man boundary. "You never want to see that because there are guys' careers at stake," said Strauss. "I don't know the exact words but it wasn't particularly sympathetic."