Former batsman Paul Collingwood has nominated his old captain Andrew Strauss as the architect of England's emphatic Ashes triumph.

Strauss was installed as the England and Wales Cricket Board's director of cricket in May on the same day that former coach Peter Moores was sacked, and the 38-year-old oversaw the selection of Trevor Bayliss as coach as well as deciding to ignore Kevin Pietersen's bid for a recall.

According to Collingwood, those decisions and more have been proven "right" after England crushed Australia at Edgbaston and Trent Bridge to claim the Ashes with a match to spare.

Speaking to Omnisport, Collingwood hailed Strauss' methodical work ethic and claimed the former Test captain deserved plenty of credit for England's success, which he believes will continue for the foreseeable future.

"Straussy - I played under his captaincy for many years - I know that he's very organised, thoughtful and a lot of the decisions he made when he first came into the team he would have taken a lot of time thinking about those decisions," Collingwood said.

"At the moment they look like the right decisions.

"I think English cricket is in a really exciting place at the moment and when you've got so many youngsters in the team and really talented youngsters as well, right throughout the team are guys who can win matches on their own."

After drawing their three-Test series away to West Indies in April and May, many had predicted England would struggle in back-to-back match-ups against New Zealand and Australia.

Another drawn series against New Zealand kept the English doubts alive but Collingwood argued Alastair Cook's young team underlined their talent and showed they can regain "number one status" in the ICC Test rankings.

While Collingwood is looking ahead, England off-spinner Moeen Ali has struggled to move on from his side's victory by an innings and 78 runs in the fourth Test.

"Just been buzzing really. To win the game the way we did and to win the series on top of that and I don't think anybody could have scripted it," Moeen said.

"Obviously we're buzzing for The Oval Test now."

Moeen said the 1-1 result against New Zealand put England in the right place to start strongly against Australia, with Cook's men going on to win in Cardiff by 169 runs.

"Even against New Zealand we didn't play badly. New Zealand are a very good side and we drew that series," he said.

"It was a great series to have before The Ashes and it really got us going."

The fifth Test begins at The Oval on Thursday.