Andrew Strauss

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	Tests	ODIs
Andrew Strauss England (Eng)

Batting style	Left hand bat
Bowling type	Left arm medium
Matches	36	74
Runs scored	2844	2156
Batting average	43.09	32.66
100s/50s	10/8	2/14
Top score	147	152
Balls bowled	-	6
Wickets	-	-
Bowling average	-	-
5 wickets in innings	-	-
10 wickets in match	-	n/a
Best bowling	-	-
Catches/stumpings	42/-	26/-
As of February 11, 2007 Source: Cricinfo.com

Andrew John Strauss MBE, (born 2 March 1977 in Johannesburg, South Africa) is an English cricketer who plays county cricket for Middlesex County Cricket Club and Test matches and One-day internationals for England.^[1]

A fluid and attractive left-handed opening batsman, Strauss has the ability to accumulate runs without resorting to big shots, in which respect he has been likened to Graham Thorpe.^[1] Strauss has shown calmness, authority, and good judgement of which balls to hit and which to leave. His technique and more specifically his footwork has been compared to that of the Australian opening batsman Justin Langer. Strauss is also known for his excellent fielding either at slip or in the covers.

He made his First-class debut in 1998, and made his One-day international (ODI) debut in Sri Lanka in 2003. He quickly rose to fame on his Test match debut replacing the injured Michael Vaughan at Lords against New Zealand in 2004.^[2] He became only the fourth batsman to score a century at Lord's on his debut and was agonisingly close to becoming the first Englishman to score centuries in both innings of his debut when he was run out for 83. He was however awarded the man of the match award for his efforts in the England win.^[1]^[3] Strauss also scored a century and was named man of the match in his first overseas Test match, in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, in December 2004.^[4]

1 Personal life and early career
2 Domestic career
3 International career
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Personal life and early career

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After being born in South Africa, his parents (his mother is English) moved back to England when he was aged six.^[5] Strauss first played cricket in Australia, where his parents lived for a short period. During this time he attended the Malvern Campus of Caulfield Grammar School in Melbourne.

He was also educated at Caldicott Preparatory School, Farnham Royal, and later at Radley College and Hatfield College, Durham University.^[1]

He married the Australian actress Ruth McDonald in October 2003 and they have settled in Ealing, with their son Samuel David Strauss (born 4 December 2005). He has a variety of nicknames ranging from the predictable Straussy, Levi and Johann, to the more obscure Lord Brocket, Mareman, Jazzer and Muppet.^[1]^[6]

[edit] Domestic career

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He was the captain for Middlesex, from 2002–2004 following the retirement of Angus Fraser.^[7] Andrew has deputised as England captain in four test matches, and 13 One-day internationals.^[8]^[9]

[edit] International career

[edit] Test debut

Following a successful spell in the One-day international side against the West Indies in April and May 2004, Strauss was called up to the 13-man test squad following the withdrawal of Michael Vaughan due to an knee-injury sustained in the nets.^[10] The initial plan was to promote Mark Butcher to the now vacant opening batsman position, and include Paul Collingwood in the middle order. Butcher declined to move up the order and batted at No. 3, meaning Strauss was asked to open the batting, and Collingwood missed out on a place in the side.^[11]^[12]

The first test against New Zealand at Lord's in May 2004 was to prove a momentous occasion for Strauss on his home (county) ground. In scoring 112 runs in the first innings, Strauss become only the fifteenth Englishman to score a century on debut and the first since Graham Thorpe in 1993; it was also only the fourth occasion for any batsman making their debut at Lord's (the others being Henry Graham of Australia in 1893, John Hampshire of England in 1969, and Sourav Ganguly of India in 1996).^[13] Despite playing the ball onto his stumps when in the nineties (an action which usually costs a batsman his wicket), Strauss was reprieved when the bails failed to dislodge from the stumps.^[14]

The second innings was just as memorable. Seemingly on course to score another century–only two batsman have achieved two centuries on debut (L.G. Rowe and Yasir Hameed)^[13]–he was run out on 83, with former captain Nasser Hussain taking the blame. Strauss was, however, given the man of the match award. The irony was that Strauss was only supposed to be a temporary replacement for Vaughan, but he couldn't be dropped after his performance causing a headache for the selectors. The answer was made a lot easier when, after atoning for his mistake, and guiding England through the winning runs, 36-year-old Hussain announced his retirement from all cricket, and Vaughan filled Hussain's place in the middle order, allowing Strauss to continue to open alongside Marcus Trescothick.^[14]

Andrew Strauss' career performance graph.

[edit] Centuries against the West Indies, July 2004

In the eighth match of the NatWest Series triangular tournament against New Zealand and the West Indies in July 2004, Strauss made exactly 100 runs in his first One-day International (ODI) innings at Lord's against the West Indies. This innings formed part of England's highest ever ODI partnership (226 for the 4th wicket) with Andrew Flintoff although England lost the match.^[15] Strauss became only the fifth player to have scored both his first Test, and first ODI hundreds at the same ground.^[1]

Later in July 2004, also playing against the West Indies, Strauss became the third player to make centuries in both of his first two Lord's Tests (after Bill Brown in 1934 and 1938,^[16] and Dilip Vengsarkar who achieved centuries in his first three Lord's tests in 1979, 1982 and 1986).^[17] Strauss scored 137 in England's first innings, sharing a stand of 291 with Robert Key (a record 2nd wicket Test partnership for England against the West Indies and a record 2nd wicket Test partnership for England at Lord's).^[18]

[edit] Continued success, in South Africa, 2004/05

Strauss batting against Bangladesh at Lord's

In December 2004, playing in his first overseas Test match, against the South Africans in Port Elizabeth, Strauss survived numerous chances whilst in the 90s to score 126 in the first innings, and 94 not out in the second innings, and was again named man of the match.^[19] He was the seventh player to score a century in his first Tests at home and away (after Harry Graham, Ranjitsinhji, Lawrence Rowe, Kepler Wessels, Azhar Mahmood, and Michael Clarke earlier in 2004), and the first English player to score a Test century in the first innings of each of his first Tests at home and abroad (in the 1890s, Kumar Shri Ranjitsinhji scored a century in the second innings of his first home Test, and the first innings of his first overseas Test). Strauss also became the first player to score centuries in his first Test against the first three sides he played, but failed to extend this record in his first Test against Bangladesh at Lord's on 26 May–30 May 2005.

In the second innings of the second Test, at Sahara Stadium Kingsmead, Durban, Strauss scored 136, including a partnership of 273 for the first wicket with Marcus Trescothick, and he scored a further 147 runs in the first innings of the fourth Test at Johannesburg, thus achieving his fourth and fifth Test centuries in only his ninth and eleventh matches.

Also on this tour, Strauss reached 1,000 Test runs in only his tenth Test match. (The English record is nine matches, set by Herbert Sutcliffe). With 656 runs in 5 matches, at an average of 72.88, he was selected as England's man of the series.

[edit] The Ashes, 2005

Andrew Strauss continued to open the batting for England in the 2005 Ashes series, against Australia in England. Strauss was one of the more consistent performers with the bat during the series. He took a brilliant diving catch at second slip off Adam Gilchrist's bat which remained one of the residing images of the series. After initially struggling against Shane Warne's legspin, he eventually rediscovered his touch when, in the third Test at Old Trafford, Manchester, he scored 106 in the second innings. This was after he had been hit on his helmet for the second time in the match. It was Strauss' first century against Australia, and brought his Test Match century tally to six (1 Vs. New Zealand, 1 Vs, West indies, 3 Vs. South Africa and 1 against Australia). He is the fifth fastest Englishman to score 6 centuries. His seventh Test century came in the first innings of the fifth and final Test at The Oval, scoring 129 off 210 balls, becoming the only player on either team to make two centuries in the series.

In the 2006 New Year Honours List, Andrew Strauss was awarded the MBE for his role in the successful Ashes tour.

[edit] 2006 Tour of India

Strauss started the Test series in March 2006 in a poor fashion, failing to reach fifty in the first two Tests. He made up for this by hitting a century in the third Test at Mumbai, providing England a platform from where they were able to record an important victory, drawing the series. Later, Strauss was appointed captain of the England One-Day side in two matches in April 2006 due to Michael Vaughan's injury, Marcus Trescothick's return to Britain and Andrew Flintoff being rested. England won one and lost one of these matches.

[edit] Summer 2006

In the absence of Michael Vaughan and Andrew Flintoff, Strauss was appointed captain of the England one day team for the series against Sri Lanka. England lost the series 5-0 and, despite the difficulties of captaining an inexperienced team with wayward bowlers, Strauss did not escape criticism [1]. He did, however, retain the captaincy for the start of the Test series against Pakistan, with Flintoff scheduled to return for the second match. Strauss marked the occasion with a composed 128 in the 2nd innings, his ninth Test century and the highest score by an Englishman captaining his country for the first time. In the event, further injury to Flintoff ruled him out of the entire Pakistan series, and Strauss was named as captain for the second Test as well, with a strong inference that, barring injury or loss of form or confidence, he would remain as captain until either Flintoff or Vaughan was fit to resume. With the burden of being the stand-in's stand-in lifted, Strauss competently led England to victory in the second Test of the series. He followed that up with a second century of the series, his 10th overall, in the second innings of the third Test at Headingley, which England went on to win by 167 runs to clinch the series.

[edit] Ashes 2006

Strauss was named in the squad for England's Ashes tour in Australia for this winter. The captaincy reverted to Andrew Flintoff following his recovery from injury. He failed to make a half century in the first 3 tests, making 12, 11 and 14 in the first 3 innings. However he was out for 34 in the 2nd innings of the 2nd test and for 42 in the 1st innings of the 3rd test, being caught off edges where replays clearly showed that the bat was missing the ball by some distance (Ian Botham quoted "You could fit Mike Athertons wallet (which apparently was quite full) in the gap between the bat and ball") and being given out in the 2nd innings of the 3rd test LBW where the ball was later discovered to be going over the top of the stumps. In the 1st innings of the fourth test at the MCG, he finally recorded a half century but was soon after bowled by Shane Warne — his 700th test wicket. In the 2nd innings he made a steady 31, with wickets falling all around him he batted on, batting with Cook, Bell, Pietersen, Collingwood and Flintoff before finally perishing just a few balls after the tea break. Once again after getting a good start, he got out to a loose shot. In both innings of the 5th test he continued to make good starts and not carry on, in the first innings he was caught behind for just 29 (playing one of his favourite shots surprisingly), and in the second innings he was LBW to Stuart Clark for 24.

Preceded by Andrew Flintoff	English national cricket captain 2006-	Succeeded by Andrew Flintoff

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Player Profile: Andrew Strauss from Cricinfo

	England squad - 2007 Cricket World Cup
1 Bell \| 2 Bopara \| 3 Joyce \| 4 Pietersen \| 5 Strauss \| 6 Vaughan \| 7 Collingwood \| 8 Dalrymple \| 9 Flintoff \| 10 Nixon \| 11 Anderson \| 12 Lewis \| 13 Mahmood \| 14 Panesar \| 15 Plunkett \| Coach: Fletcher

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