True test of greatness awaits as Pakistan and South Africa lie in wait

After their historic series victories in Australia last winter and against an admittedly under-par India this summer, there are no plausible doubts about whether they have properly earned their new status.

England are the best team in the world, on the book and in reality.

That does not mean, though, that there is still not much for them to achieve and prove.

As yet, they are simply – and not by an overwhelming margin either – the best of what may, in relative terms at the highest level, be an average crop.

Where they stand in cricket’s all-time roll of honour will be more reliably indicated by what happens next – and it is encouraging for England’s supporters that their heroes appear acutely aware themselves both that they have much still to do, and of their potential for continued achievement.

Amid the general euphoria of Edgbaston, it was as unsurprising as it was telling that Strauss’s team did not launch into manic Ashes-style celebrations.

Talk of updating Graeme Swann’s 2010/11 ‘Sprinkler’ routine into a ‘Worm’ – or some other improbable Test dance troupe – did not come to pass.

Even as the thousands present were baying for England to join the party to mark an ambition never previously realised by any cricket team from this country, England contented themselves with their own congratulatory huddle and polite rather than unbridled acknowledgment of the adulation.

In the minutes which followed, on television and in the press lounge, those who spoke on the team’s behalf – Strauss himself, man-of-the-match Alastair Cook, Kevin Pietersen et al – did not divert from the mantra which has underpinned England’s rise from Test also-rans to current world-beaters. They were careful as ever to cite the Strauss-Andy Flower template of team ethos above individual accolade.

It is a premise England have stuck to steadfastly through so much of the last two-and-a-half years, one they appear to believe in entirely and which they will doubtless continue to champion.

Yet there are other statistics, many courtesy of the ICC, which prove that individual excellence – whether fostered by the collective or not – is habitually present in this team.

Eight of the current squad, for example, have been nominated in the world governing body’s ‘long list’ to choose the 2011 cricketer of the year.

Cook’s career-best 294 in Birmingham has carried him up eight places to third in the Test batsmen’s rankings, where Jonathan Trott and Ian Bell accompany him in the top 10.

James Anderson is the second-best bowler in the world, and Stuart Broad the second-best all-rounder.

South Africa – perhaps England’s likeliest rivals for world domination, with ageing India apparently on the wane, and due in this country next year – interestingly fill the top spot in all categories, thanks to Jacques Kallis and Dale Steyn. But it is English cricketers who have undoubtedly made the greatest strides in the shortest time frame.

In 34 Tests since the start of the Strauss-Flower era in January 2009, just 16 men have been responsible for an astonishing 47 hundreds and 28 five-wicket hauls or better.

These are individual performances which put the deeds of many great teams of the past, some but not all in less competitive ages, in the shade.

They hint at an outstanding bunch of cricketers, in any era, and one young yet already experienced enough to certainly dominate this one.

This England will continue to espouse the value of the whole team over its stellar parts – while it is clear that in the shape of South Africa here and India away next year, some of their toughest tests are yet to come.

It may be a moot point whether insistence on the power of the collective is merely a mechanism for Strauss and Flower to maximise the supreme talent at their disposal.

But whatever they are doing, it is working and does not look like it will need a fix any time soon.