London: England captain Ben Stokes has set his sights on helping his side overtake Australia and claim the No.1 ranking for teams in Test cricket.
Earlier this month the ICC released their annual rankings update and England jumped two places and in front of South Africa and India to second overall on the back of some strong performances in the longest format.
While Australia still hold a lofty advantage of 13 rating points on England, Stokes made it clear he wants the top ranking for his side in the future and made coach Brendon McCullum and managing director Robert Key aware of his lofty goal when he saw the annual update.
"When the rankings came out, I did send Baz and Keysy a text saying, 'We've got one more place to go'," Stokes said.
"Everyone knows when things are going well for us as a team we are incredibly hard to stop. We know it doesn't always go that way," he said.
England take on Zimbabwe in a one-off Test in Nottingham this week, before commencing their ICC World Test Championship campaign with a five-match series at home against India, an ICC report said.
They then travel Down Under to take on Australia in five Tests in the eagerly awaited battle for the Ashes at the end of the year and Stokes is backing his side to perform at their best under his leadership.
"The word 'ruthless', I'm not a big fan of. The words I do love and what I've tried to instil in this team is 'dominance' and 'dominate'," Stokes said.
"Whatever situation we find ourselves in the game, that's the word I want to be at the front of our heads," he added.