Cook: England only starting journey

Alastair Cook believes England's new-found world number one status is the start of a "special" era, rather than the mere culmination of their capabilities.

England went top of the International Cricket Council Test rankings for the first time after an innings victory over previous incumbents India which owed much to Cook's career-best 294.

"I think we're on the way to doing something special," he said. "It's been a huge privilege for me to play in this team, and I think we all feel that at the moment. But I think we're still at the start of a journey, rather than the end of it."

He added: "We will what we've achieved, but then come back in the next couple of days desperate to start again. That's where this side is at."

England will not spend valuable mental energy navel-gazing about what they have achieved and may achieve. They will instead stick to the template of ticking off immediate targets, and let the longer-term ambitions take care of themselves.

Next up is the chance to complete a 4-0 npower series whitewash of India, at The Oval next week - when they will simply start from scratch again, with confidence naturally high but complacency forever absent.

Asked about milestones of the future, such as record-breaking runs and wickets tallies, Cook said: "We honestly try to break it down far more simply than that.

"We just try to control the next game, and that is what's worked so well for us. Then we try to break each game down into little segments, and we hope it will continue to work really well like that."

A notable aspect of this ongoing series has been the failure of India's powerhouse batting. At no point have they managed to make 300 in an innings in six attempts so far, or even for that matter, reach the 294 Cook compiled all by himself in England's monumental 710 for seven declared here.

"It's just a lot of credit to the way our bowlers have bowled - the way we can build pressure continuously at both ends," Cook said. "All four bowlers, five if you include (the injured) Chris Tremlett, offer something different - and continue to prey on people's weaknesses. It's a pleasure to be the ball-shiner for them, because you know it gets rewards."