London, Oct 5 (IANS): Test skipper Andrew Strauss and head coach Andy Flower received OBEs at Windsor Castle for guiding England to an Ashes victory in Australia last winter.

Strauss and Flower were presented with the honours by Anne, the Princess Royal, Tuesday.

England had won the Ashes 3-1, their first victory in Australia in 24 years. The team has gone on to scale further heights since then and became the World No.1 team in Tests by blanking India 4-0 in recent series at home.

Strauss said winning Ashes was like holy grail for them.

"It was certainly one of the proudest moments of my career because for us winning the Ashes away from home is a bit like the holy grail. The bottom line for me is the players on the pitch have to deliver under pressure and we've done that consistently over a number of months and years now," Strauss was quoted as saying in the English media.

While Flower will now join the England squad Thursday for the five-match One-day series in India, Strauss's will set eyes on the Test series against Pakistan in January, where England begin their defence of newly-acquired world No. 1 status.

"We don't prepare any differently but obviously we're the hunted rather than the hunters," Strauss said.

"There's a different mindset and we have to make sure we approach it in the same way we always have. The Princess Royal was talking about how busy the season is these days so she seemed up to speed on how everything was going."