England batting coach Graham Gooch pictured in New Delhi last year. Gooch is confident Alastair Cook's side won't take things easy against Australia in the fifth and final one-day international at Old Trafford here on Tuesday.
©AFP/File - Manan Vatsyayana

MANCHESTER, England (AFP) - England batting coach Graham Gooch is confident Alastair Cook's side won't take things easy against Australia in the fifth and final one-day international at Old Trafford here on Tuesday.

England, at 3-0 up, have already won this series and are on a run of nine successive wins in one-day internationals.

Although a washed out encounter at Edgbaston last week means they can no longer replace Australia as the world's top ranked side in 50-over cricket this campaign, former England captain Gooch said the chance to defeat their arch-rivals 4-0 was incentive enough for the hosts.

"They have to be delighted with 3-0 but there's one match to go yet and any match against Australia is a special occasion and certainly I think the players will be looking forward to that game and doing their utmost to make it 4-0," Gooch told Sky Sports here on Monday.

"It's always a special thing when Australia visit these shores, they are the big series, whether it's the Ashes or one-day cricket, there's a great rivalry between the two sides," added Gooch, who experienced his fair share of heartache against the Aussies, starting with a 'pair' on his Test debut back in 1975.

Gooch, a mentor to Cook as his fellow opening batsman rose through the ranks at Essex, said England would have been delighted by a series where wins by 15 runs and six wickets at Lord's and The Oval respectively were followed by an eight-wicket thrashing of Australia at the Riverside on Saturday.

"I think England have got to be happy with the way they have played, they have been very professional, gone about their work in a very positive way and they have taken their cricket to the Australians and the team have obviously got the results," said Gooch.

And, in what has become something of a mantra for all the England hierarchy, Gooch said the team's focus was not on the outcome of Tuesday's clash but the means that would deliver them another victory.

"I don't think they are looking at it as a 4-0 whitewash, you just want to go out and win every match," said Gooch, captain of an England team that won 11 successive completed one-day matches before losing the 1992 World Cup final.

"You try and break it down into smaller components, a series, one match at a time, one innings at a time, one over at a time...and certainly the players have got those disciplines right.

"I think it's fair to say their (England's) cricket has been up to a standard that they'd like to achieve every time they go onto the field, so I think this last match at Old Trafford is an important game, they don't want to lose to Australia at any time in any match."