The prettiest flowers can grow from the filthiest soil. It is too early to know whether the Andrew Strauss captaincy will blossom or wilt, but there is no doubt about the unpromising base of its roots. As challenges go, taking charge of a fragmented England group that had lost head coach and captain on the same day was like trying to cultivate a shiny red rose from sinking sand.

Nearly three months on, having stabilised affairs from the forced resignation of Kevin Pietersen and sacking of Peter Moores, Strauss can end a discordant winter by leading England to victory in the one-day series against West Indies. The fifth and final game in St Lucia on Friday amounts to a decider after his man-of-the-match performance in Barbados two days ago.

If ever anybody deserved a rest, then Strauss is that man. Instead, he plans to return to nets and the gym within a few days of his return on Sunday. “To be a good England captain you need to commit yourself,” he said. “At the end of it all, that's when you relax and enjoy life.” But, with an Ashes series that starts in July - the greatest maker and breaker of a captain's reputation - relaxation is going to be a rare luxury.

His work began with phone calls and a get-together in Loughborough before leaving for the Caribbean. He agrees that certain management and players, including Pietersen, were entitled to feel angry at the way events had spiralled out of control into what he describes as “a pretty unsavoury affair”. Loughborough became a clear-the-air forum but, even as he drove home, Strauss wondered whether issues had been put to bed.

“The majority of players did not want to have to nail their colours to either a coach or captain,” he said. “I knew that stories of divisions were massively overblown, but I was always a little bit concerned that if things did not go well on the pitch there might be something deep down that would resurface. It is a huge credit to everyone involved that they were willing to give each other a chance to operate in a different environment.”

Evident respect exists between Pietersen and Strauss, although they still seem to be tip-toeing around each other. Pietersen described his successor as “a top man” last week and explained that he has avoided offering advice on the field because he does not want to be thought of as querying his leadership. For his own part, Strauss was cautious about accepting the job because, “I did not want Kevin to feel I was overly ambitious to get the role”.

Unlike Pietersen, Strauss is happy with a backroom team who support his philosophy on cricket. At its simplest, that means allowing players to take responsibility, or “ownership” as he tends to call it, for their own games. He said: “A group too heavily dominated by management is not one which encourages players to think for themselves.” Strauss has praised Andy Flower, his preferred choice to succeed Moores, for challenging players in a non-confrontational way.

So how does that differ from the previous regime? “We were going through a difficult time as the game moved forward with more professionalism and a lot more support staff,” Strauss said. “There is a feeling that to be seen to be doing your job properly you have to make sure players are doing certain things, therefore you have to be on their case all the time. I have said, ‘Yes, they have to do these things, but they must want to do them as well.'”

Already, though, Strauss has shown that he will not shirk decisions. Monty Panesar, Ian Bell and Stephen Harmison have been dropped, and Samit Patel pulled from the one-day squad over fitness. “I am a big believer in consistency of selection,” Strauss said. “I also believe that, as a team, we are not good enough to be able to cruise. Players have to be aware that if their performances are not consistently high, there is a chance of being dropped.”

From the West Indies Test series he saw progress in a batting unit that shared nine hundreds. Strauss mentions Alastair Cook, Paul Collingwood and Matthew Prior, omitting the three centuries of his own. “In the past we have relied too much on Kevin,” he said. Of the bowlers he described Stuart Broad and James Anderson as “exceptional” and said that Graeme Swann had shown himself a match-winner. “But for all that, we lost the series,” he added. In four months' time, England will begin their attempt to regain the Ashes, and although Strauss wants to focus on the final week in the Caribbean, he recognises the centrality of Australia to the English cricket psyche. “I do not think people get preoccupied with the Ashes,” he said. “Those games should always be special. We should celebrate the memories and the fact that two sides love beating each other. That is fundamental to sporting contests.”

He thinks that he knows nine of the side he would like for the first npower Test at Cardiff, declining to identify the two vacant places. But he does recognise the type of player required. “We must acknowledge that an Ashes series is different to others,” he said. “I am thinking of the extra attention, expectation, pressure, and the brand of cricket that Australia play. We cannot afford for any of our players to be surprised by the challenge.”

His commitments mean that he has seen only snippets of Australia in action this winter. He said: “They have had a good tussle with South Africa and it was probably honours even. That suggests that a) Australia are beatable and b) they are still a good side. They have a few young players who have not been to England before or who haven't spent much time here, so that could be an advantage for us if we can put pressure on them early.”

He is wary of using the summer of 2005 as a template for everything that England want to achieve this time. England sought to copy too much in Australia in 2006-07, forgetting that some players had fallen back and others broken through. A 5-0 whitewash was a heavy price.

“For all the many great memories, and I have as many as anybody, I do think it would be wrong to get caught up with 2005,” Strauss said. “What we can try to do is replicate the mindset we had. In 2005 we were very, very positive. We set out to enjoy the series, but really take on the Aussies. That is the type of mindset you need.”

His long-term position as one-day captain will be discussed at the end of the tour, but Strauss is adamant that he will pre-empt a decision if he feels he does not warrant a place. “I am very clear that I have to be performing with the bat. If the side is weaker with me in it, I will step down,” he said.

The one-day leadership will be pushed to the wings once Australia land. The irony is that while Strauss was disappointed to be overlooked as captain in 2006-07, his time has come when the opposition are plugging gaps left by Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath and others. They ought to be more vulnerable than the highly motivated outfit that gained revenge two years ago.

Strauss smiles broadly at a suggestion that he may, after all, come to be seen in history as the man in the right place at the right time. “I don't know,” he said. “You can't pick and choose when you are going to captain England. Maybe I have had to wait longer than some others, but I am very comfortable with my game now. I have had highs and lows and I suppose I just feel more grounded. I do think this is the right time for me.”

— Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff were due to join their England colleagues in St Lucia last night after scans and X-rays in Barbados cleared them of serious injury before the deciding one-day international against West Indies on Friday. Pietersen suffered a back spasm and Flintoff a bruised thumb in the nine-wicket win over West Indies two days ago.