Cook says England 'deserving' of 'favourites' tag following three consecutive Ashes wins

England captain Alastair Cook has said that his side is happy to accept their role as favourites going into Australia for the winter Ashes series, where they chase a fourth consecutive Ashes series victory for the first time in a century.

England, which will open their Australian tour with a warm-up match against a Western Australia XI in Perth beginning on October 31, have not won four consecutive series since 1890.

However, Sport24 reports that Cook said that expectations of doing so does not weigh heavily on his 17-man squad who will be mounting the defence of the urn, adding that he believes that the favourites tag is a fair description given that they won the last three series, with the final one being just two months ago.

But Cook admitted that it does not make much difference as to who is the favourite as they have coped well with the pressure of being favourites in the series last summer, adding that they have a challenge in their hand as winning in Australia is no 'mean feat'.

Cook further said that they are aware of what it takes to win, adding that it consists of scoring big first innings runs, applying a lot of pressure with the ball and restricting scoring rates.

England play three warm-up matches in Perth, Hobart and Sydney, which Cook said would be important in acclimatising the side to the Kookaburra ball and faster pitches.