Swann's six complete India's embarrassment

England 591 for 6 dec (Bell 235, Pietersen 175) strike India 300 (Dravid 146*, Bresnan 3-54) & 283 (Tendulkar 91, Mishra 84, Swann 6-106) by an innings and eight runs

ICC CEO Haroon Lorgat has said that England deserved ICC Test Mace as they have achieved it by sheer resolve cap with good planning.

England captain Andrew Strauss was on Monday presented with the ICC Test Mace after they climbed to the top of Test rankings with 125 points.

England is followed by South Africa with 118 points while India has now dropped to the third spot in ICC Test Rankings with 117 points.

Presenting the Mace, ICC CEO Haroon Lorgat said: “England have deservedly achieved their goal to be crown as the number one Test side in the world.”

After England completed their victory by an innings and eight runs in front of a capacity crowd at The Oval in London, Lorgat congratulate the England and Wales Cricket Board and the England side.

He said: “I know England was strong-minded to be number-one and through careful planning and a series of clinical performance, they have deservedly achieved their goal. They were clearly the most consistent side in the world over the past few years as evidence by their strength of mind to complete their series victory here at The Oval.

“This attainment is just prize for the hard work from all the players and team management and the England and Wales Cricket Board and they no uncertainty will celebrate being on top of the world. It was an opportunity to be here at The Oval to join a full house to watch another fascinating day of Test match cricket.”

Meanwhile, Andrew Strauss, the England captain, said: “We are pleased to be number one in the Reliance ICC Test Rankings and to have achieved that position with such a complete series success. This has been a real team effort and every one of the players; management and back up staff merit great credit. Becoming number one in the world was our stated ambition two and a half years ago and even though we have achieved that objective we will carry on to look to build on this success.’

Sanjay Behl, Group Head – Brand & Marketing, Reliance Communications said: “Reliance congratulates the England cricket team on achieve the number-one ranking in the Reliance ICC Test Championship table.

“Skipper Andrew Strauss and his boys have established a hunger to succeed and tremendous constancy over the past two years in the toughest format of the game and have deservedly emerge as the best Test-playing team in the world.

“The England cricket team’s coronation as the world’s best Test team earns them the Reliance ICC Test mace. The Test mace is the symbol of their ascendancy in the Test match arena.”

England is only the fourth team after Australia, South Africa and India to achieve the number-one position on the Reliance ICC Test rankings table.

England had previously preserved the number-one position after taking an invincible 3-0 at Edgbaston but victory in the fourth and final Test at The Oval not only strengthened its position at the top of the tree but also drop India into third position on 117 ratings points, one at the back second-placed South Africa.

The Championship table will now be efficient at the end of Sri Lanka and Australia series which starts on Wednesday 31 August in Galle.

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'England have to aim for ODI preeminence

As England cherish their dominance to the top of Test cricket, former captain Michael Vaughan said the next challenge will be to rule the one-day rankings.

"We also desire to see them become the world's number-one team in one-day cricket too. That is the next challenge," Vaughan said.

"We haven't won a World Cup yet and I think that will be Andy Flower's next goal," the cricketer was quoted as saying by the 'London Evening Standard'.

He said the country should celebrate England's climb to the top of ICC Test rankings but reiterate that the team should now set up a strong hold at the position.

The 36-year-old, who played his last Test in 2008, said "number one in the world is amazing we should all celebrate but the main thing now is to stay there."

"I actually think this team now has got a great opportunity to go on and dominate Test cricket for a number of years," he added.

Vaughan also lavish praise on Alastair Cook, who, he believes is intended for a place among the game's greats.

"I don't want to put him under too much force but he is going to get over 10,000 Test runs with over 35 Test match hundreds (a feat that no other English man has achieved so far)," the former batsman said.

"He will most likely be captain when Andrew Strauss relinquishes it in a few years' time and he has got a wonderful career ahead.

"He is the type of player you want, very strong-minded, he grinds out every run. At times it is not pretty but, look at the end result, he is a run-scorer," Vaughan added.

Cook, who struggle during the early half of the continuing series, rediscovered his lost touch with a career-best 294 during the Edgbaston Test.

The ton was Cook’s 19th Test hundred and seventh since his place was deems to be under threat 12 months ago.

The 26-year-old has played 71 Tests so far and is now only three hundreds behind England's record Test centurions Geoff Boycott, Colin Cowdrey and Wally Hammond.

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Broad: England chase top spot

Stuart Broad says England is "hunting" top spot in the ICC Test rankings after victory over India at Lord's.

Needing to take the series by two clear Tests to move above their opponents in the standings, England made the perfect start with an impressive 196-run triumph on Monday.

Broad, though, insists the squad is not resting on their laurels, and is strong-minded to turn in another strong presentation in the second Test at Trent Bridge, which gets underway on Friday.

"We knew we wanted to start the series well," the Nottinghamshire bowler told in front of the game at his home ground.

"We had talk about it, chiefly the first hour, so to come away from Lord's with victory is just the ideal start.

"We know it's only one Test out of four and that India are the best team in the world, so we need to be right on it at Trent Bridge.

"We've got huge leaders of our group - people like Andy Flower and Andrew Strauss - and we will be very listening carefully on that first hour at Trent Bridge.

"The great thing about Trent Bridge is that it's a really good cricket wicket, but you can lose the game inside the first hour since it can swing around. If you're 50-5, you're in a bit of trouble.

"The boys are hunt that No.1 slot and we need to be right on the money all of the time."

Broad positively played his part in England's success at Lord's, final up with match figures of 7-94 and also weighing in with an winning half-century in the home side's second innings.

The 25-year-old had been under force going into the match, only just keeping his place in the final XI ahead of Yorkshire's Tim Bresnan, after lasting a lean series against Sri Lanka at the start of the summer.

"It's always nice to take wickets and score some runs, but more highly to add to the team winning," he added.

"It was nice to pick up some key wickets and help Matt reach his hundred, which was a special moment, but it all starts again at Trent Bridge.

"The boys are really focused on that. It was an amazing win at Lord’s; we really enjoy sitting in the changing room on Monday evening, but the mind soon switched on to Trent Bridge and looking to go 2-0 up."

While England is on a high, India has plenty of problems ahead of the match in Nottingham.

Their most pressing anxiety is the fitness of Zaheer Khan, who suffers a hamstring strain on the opening day at Lord's and did not bowl again.

"We saw Zaheer in 2007 at Trent Bridge and he caused our batsmen problem. We know he is a skilful bowler and he would use circumstances well," Broad said of the left-arm seamer.

"Obviously, we don't know how he is going to pull up, but we must focus on what we have got to do.

"We need to regulate our line and lengths - you do get good value for pitching the ball up at Trent Bridge - and a lot of catches can go to the slip, so that's something we will be working on in training."

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India lose point but stay No.1

India maintains their number-one status in the latest ICC Test Rankings but lost a pair of rating points after sketch two Tests against the West Indies.

Leading the point table, India now have 126 points while seventh-placed West Indies (88) have gained two rating points in spite of behind the three-match series which concluded on Sunday.

South Africa (117) is the second-placed team, follow by England (116). Among the players, Harbhajan Singh has moved one place to seventh in the ICC rankings. The offie take 11 wickets and interestingly, replace teammate and Man-of-the Series, Ishant Sharma, who had an inspiring tally of 22 wickets in three matches.

The off-spinner took six wickets in the final Test and in the procedure passed the 400-wicket mark. Praveen Kumar insolvent into the top-50 for the first time. The medium-pacer from Uttar Pradesh walked absent with four wickets in the final Test and is now ranked 42nd.

West Indies fast bowler, Fidel Edwards, achieve his career-best ranking, 16th, a gain of two places. He holds the 16th place together with South Africa spinner Paul Harris.

The top-three remain unaffected with Dale Steyn of South Africa still most important the way ahead of England's Graeme Swann in second position and James Anderson in third.

Among the batsmen, West Indies' Shivnarine Chanderpaul rose to seventh next his match-saving 116 not out in the second innings at Roseau.

The top-five stay as it is with Jacques Kallis of South Africa still leading the way ahead of India's Sachin Tendulkar in second position. Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and Tendulkar, who did not play in the West Indies series, have fallen back because a player loses one per cent of his ratings points for every Test he misses.

There was no modify in the top-five of the player rankings for Test all-rounders with Kallis most important the way, followed by New Zealand's Daniel Vettori.

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