Alastair Cook has dismissed claims from critics suggesting that England are suffering from overconfidence.

South Africa cruised to victory in the first Test at The Oval last week but Cook insists that the team's players are not relaxing just because they are the number one ranked Test side in the world.

The vice-captain said: "We don't ever think we are the best team in the world. We don't talk about that as a side. The ­rankings show that we have managed to get to the top of the tree.

"That breeds confidence, but we never walk around that dressing room ­thinking we have made it. Cricket is a funny game and we don't strut around like that. We are working as hard now as we were when we were number five.

"It was probably impossible to ­maintain those standards as high as they were, and we had a little bit of a dip and that has shown in our results."

The second Test between the two sides begins on Thursday at Headingley.