Strauss urges England to make it three in a row

LONDON, Aug 16 (Reuters) With the Ashes series on the horizon, Andrew Strauss will urge his England team to make it three wins in a row against Pakistan when the fourth and final test gets underway at The Oval tomorrow.

''Momentum is important,'' he told a news conference at the venue of the fourth and final test today. ''Winning becomes a habit. If we can make it three in a row I think it makes really good momentum heading into the Ashes series and, more importantly, heading into the one-dayers.'' England beat Pakistan by 167 runs at Headingley to take a 2-0 unassailable lead in the test series. The teams are then due to contest five one-day internationals.

England defend the Ashes in Australia with the first test starting in November.

Strauss took over the England captaincy from the injured Andrew Flintoff for the one-day series against Sri Lanka in June and July only for the home side to be whitewashed 5-0.

''I really want to improve on what we did against Sri Lanka,'' Strauss added. ''If we win this test naturally it will give us a nice launchpad.'' He said the test series against Pakistan had showed that England remained a very competitive side, adding that there were now 15 or 16 players who felt confident as members of the squad where previously there had been only 11 or 12.

England are due to name their side on the morning of the test and seem certain to pick an unchanged lineup. Seamer Matthew Hoggard, said Strauss, seemed to be fine after a knee problem while he also backed fellow opener Marcus Trescothick despite a string of failures during the series.

He said Trescothick was suffering from ''a minor blip in form, we all know what a quality batter Tres is''.

Pakistan, in contrast, will make several changes, including two new opening batsmen in Mohammad Hafeez and Imran Farhat after Salman Butt and Taufeeq Umar were released from the squad.

Coach Bob Woolmer must also decide whether to bring in pace bowlers Rana Naved-ul-Hasan and Mohammad Asif after both missed the first three tests with injury. Woolmer confirmed today that both were now fit and in contention for a recall.

Mohammad Sami looks the most vulnerable to make way after taking eight wickets at 58.25 runs apiece in the series. The 28-year-old Shahid Nazir, however, recalled for the third test after a seven-year absence, bowled well at Headingley without any luck and will be harder to drop.

REUTERS DH KN1923