James Anderson: 'England on track to greatness'

After enduring a torrid winter you’d think England would be happy just to get through the home season with their world No.1 ranking intact.

However, that’s simply not enough for pace spearhead James Anderson, who believes the current crop of Englishmen are capable of becoming the greatest in the country’s history.

“We don’t just want to stay number one in the world. That’s not what is driving us on,” the 29-year-old seamer declared. “We actually do believe that we can become one of the best, if not the best, England team there ever has been.”

England, who’ve been top of the Test tree since routing India 4-0 at home last August, put their No.1 status on the line again when they host the West Indies in a three-Test series starting Thursday, followed by a top of the table clash against South Africa.

But Anderson added: “Once we finish playing we want to look back on something we can be really proud of. We want to create a legacy.

“We want to be a team that people look back on and think ‘that was a great team’ - a group that young kids look at and think ‘we want to be as good as that, we want to be in a team as good as that’.”

Having won Ashes series both home and away as well as last year’s India mauling, Andrew Strauss and Co are already on track to leave their names in the history books.

However, they’ve struggled to replicate that success on the subcontinent, as witnessed by the 3-0 thumping at the hands of Pakistan here in the UAE three months ago before they shared a series in Sri Lanka 1-1.

England’s next chance to rectify that woeful record comes later in the year when they travel to India, where their series drought stretches back to 1985. But Anderson insists he and his team-mates are bent on proving they can win no matter the conditions.

“We want to win everything we can. Going to India in the winter is going to be a big task, because it’s somewhere where we haven’t been successful in the past,” he said.

“I heard that India have only lost two of the last 35 Test series they’ve played at home, so that’s pretty daunting.

“But it’s something that will drive us on to win there, as will back-to-back Ashes wins in Australia too.” Anderson added: “2013-14 is going to be a huge 12 months for us.”