James Anderson has revealed that he is "delighted" with England's start to this year's Ashes series against Australia.
The hosts narrowly won the opening Test at Trent Bridge before going on to take a 2-0 lead at Lord's last week.
"These are two huge series for us and it is important we got the first punch in," the 30-year-old bowler told Sky Sports News.
"We are delighted to have won the first two games. It didn't matter how, we just had to win them.
"With the amount of cricket we have coming up against Australia we knew if we could get a big win in early and put the pressure on it will stand us in good stead for the coming months."
England have the chance to win the series when the third Test gets underway at Old Trafford on August 1.