Andrew Strauss

Infobox cricketer biography
playername = Andrew Strauss

---

country = England
fullname = Andrew John Strauss
nickname = Straussy, Levi, Mareman
living = true
dayofbirth = 2
monthofbirth = 3
yearofbirth = 1977
placeofbirth = Johannesburg
countryofbirth = South Africa
heightft = 5
heightinch = 11
batting = Left-handed
bowling = Left-arm medium
role = Batsman
international = true
testdebutdate = 20 May
testdebutyear = 2004
testdebutagainst = New Zealand
lasttestdate = 7 August
lasttestyear = 2008
lasttestagainst = South Africa
odidebutdate = 18 November
odidebutyear = 2003
odidebutagainst = Sri Lanka
lastodidate = 21 April
lastodiyear = 2007
lastodiagainst = West Indies
odishirt = 14
club1 = Middlesex
year1 = 1998 – present
clubnumber1 = 6
club2 = MCC
year2 = 2002
deliveries = balls
columns = 4
column1 = Tests
matches1 = 53
runs1 = 3,943
bat avg1 = 41.07
100s/50s1 = 12/14
top score1 = 177
deliveries1 = –
wickets1 = –
bowl avg1 = –
fivefor1 = –
tenfor1 = –
best bowling1 = –
catches/stumpings1 = 66/–
column2 = ODI
matches2 = 78
runs2 = 2,239
bat avg2 = 31.98
100s/50s2 = 2/14
top score2 = 152
deliveries2 = 6
wickets2 = 0
bowl avg2 = –
fivefor2 = 0
tenfor2 = n/a
best bowling2 = 0/3
catches/stumpings2 = 28/–
column3 = FC
matches3 = 162
runs3 = 11,283
bat avg3 = 41.02
100s/50s3 = 28/50
top score3 = 177
deliveries3 = 90
wickets3 = 2
bowl avg3 = 39.50
fivefor3 = 0
tenfor3 = 0
best bowling3 = 1/16
catches/stumpings3 = 135/–
column4 = LA
matches4 = 199
runs4 = 5,461
bat avg4 = 30.50
100s/50s4 = 6/34
top score4 = 163
deliveries4 = 6
wickets4 = 0
bowl avg4 = –
fivefor4 = 0
tenfor4 = n/a
best bowling4 = 0/3
catches/stumpings4 = 60/–
date = 04 October
year = 2008
source = http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/7/7005/7005.html CricketArchive

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. [http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/england/content/player/20387.html Cricinfo - Players and Officials - Andrew Strauss ] ]

A fluid left-handed opening batsman, Strauss has the ability to accumulate runs without playing big shots, in which respect he has been likened to Graham Thorpe. Also, his technique and more specifically his footwork has been compared to that of the Australian opening batsman Justin Langer. Strauss favours scoring off the back foot, mostly playing cut and pull shots. 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. [http://www.ecb.co.uk/england/series-tours/ashes-2006/teams/andrew-strauss,11,PP.html England - News - ECB ] ] He became only the fourth batsman to score a century at Lord's on his debut and was 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 given the man of the match award for his efforts in the England win. [http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/england/engine/match/64086.html Test match debut scorecard] 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. [http://uk.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/2004-05/ENG_IN_RSA/SCORECARDS/ENG_RSA_T1_17-21DEC2004.html 1st Test: South Africa v England at Port Elizabeth, 17-21 Dec 2004 ] ] Strauss suffered a drop in form during 2007, and as a result he was left out of the test squad for England's tour of Sri Lanka, and announced that he was taking a break from cricket. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/england/7054967.stm "Strauss plans break from cricket"] BBC News retrieved 22 October 2007] After a poor tour for England, Andrew was recalled into the squad for the 2008 tour of New Zealand where, after a string of low scores, he reestablished himself with a career best century in the third and final test, and another two matches later.

Personal life and early career

After being born in South Africa, his parents (his mother is English) moved back to England when he was aged six.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. He married Australian actress Ruth McDonald in October 2003 and they have settled in Ealing, with their son Samuel David Strauss (born 4 December 2005). Ruth gave birth to the couple's second child Luca on 14 July 2008. [Miller, Andrew (2008). " [http://content-ind.cricinfo.com/nzveng/content/story/361104.html Hot water and towels] " 2008-07-14, Cricinfo. Retrieved on 2008-07-15] . He has a variety of nicknames ranging from the predictable "Straussy", "Levi" and "Johann", to the more obscure "Lord Brocket", "Mareman", "Jazzer" and "Muppet". [ [http://www.middlesexccc.com/player-profile.asp?PlayerID=20 Middlesex CCC Player Profile] ]

Domestic career

He was the captain for Middlesex, from 2002–2004 following the retirement of Angus Fraser. [ [http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/7/7005/7005.html Cricket Archive ] ] Andrew has deputised as England captain in four test matches, and 13 One-Day Internationals. [http://www.howstat.com/cricket/Statistics/Players/PlayerOverview.asp?PlayerID=3148] [http://www.howstat.com/cricket/Statistics/Players/PlayerOverview_ODI.asp?PlayerID=3148]

International career

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 a knee-injury sustained in the nets. [ [http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/231698.html Cricinfo ] ] 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. [ [http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/ci/content/story/141052.html Cricinfo - England braced for loss of Vaughan ] ] [ [http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/ci/content/story/141053.html Cricinfo - Trescothick to lead England ] ]

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). [http://uk.cricinfo.com/db/STATS/TESTS/BATTING/DEBUT_100S_IN_TESTS.html Cricinfo - Records - Test matches - Hundred on debut ] ] 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. [http://www.cricketweb.net/country/player.php?Player=1&CategoryIDAuto=11&PlayerIDAuto=22 Cricket Web Stats Spider - England - Andrew Strauss ] ]

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)–he was run out on 83, with former captain Nasser Hussain taking the blame. Strauss was, however, given the man of the match award. Strauss was only supposed to be a temporary replacement for Vaughan, but his performance caused a selection headache, in particular who should be dropped to accomodate Vaughan and Strauss in the team. However, following the test, after atoning for his mistake with a century, and guiding England to 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.

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. [ [http://uk.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/2004/OD_TOURNEYS/NWS/SCORECARDS/ENG_WI_NWS_ODI8_06JUL2004.html 8th Match: England v West Indies at Lord's, 6 Jul 2004 ] ] Strauss became only the fifth player to have scored both his first Test, and first ODI hundreds at the same ground.

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, [http://www.howstat.com/cricket/Statistics/Players/PlayerProgressBat.asp?PlayerId=0250&GroundCode=040 William A Brown, Cricket Stats] retrieved 27 February 2008] and Dilip Vengsarkar who achieved centuries in his first three Lord's tests in 1979, 1982 and 1986). 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). [ [http://uk.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/2004/WI_IN_ENG/SCORECARDS/WI_ENG_T1_22-26JUL2004.html 1st Test: England v West Indies at Lord's, 22-26 Jul 2004 ] ]

outh Africa, 2004/05

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. 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.

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. [ [http://uk.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/2005/AUS_IN_ENG/STATS/AUS_IN_ENG_JUN-SEP2005_TEST_BAT_HIGH_INNS_SCORES.html Australia in England, 2005 Test Series Highest Individual Scores ] ]

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

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.

ummer 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, [ [http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/engvsl/content/story/252123.html "From bad to hopeless"] Cricinfo retrieved 27 February 2008] however he did 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.

Ashes 2006/2007

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 quite clearly 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 made good starts but could not carry on: in the first innings he was caught behind for 29 and in the second innings he was LBW to Stuart Clark for 24.

2007 World Cup

Strauss was selected in the final 15-man squad to travel to the Caribbean for the 2007 Cricket World Cup. Due to his lack of runs in Australia, and the form of Middlesex team-mate Ed Joyce during the Commonwealth Bank series, Joyce was preferred to him during the group stage matches in St. Lucia, and the initial games of the Super 8 phase in Guyana and Antigua. After Joyce was dropped, due to indifferent form throughout the tournament, Strauss was reinstated into the team for the game against Australia at number three (with Ian Bell moving up the order to open) but did not make an impression, scoring only seven runs off ten balls. He remained in the side for the match against Bangladesh scoring 23 runs off 37 balls in a low-scoring match. His good form against South Africa continued, however, where he top-scored for England with a respectable 46 off 67 balls in a losing cause as South Africa won by 9 wickets.

2007-2008

Strauss' poor run of form continued through 2007, averaging a low 27 and failing to score a century. While he continued to play in test matches against India and the West Indies, he was dropped from the ODI side. In late 2007, Strauss was not included in the test squad for the tour of Sri Lanka, and Michael Vaughan was selected to take his position as opening batsman. Strauss then announced that he was going to take a break from cricket after what he described as a "long, tiring and immensely frustrating 12 months." He was, however, able to travel to India as part of the backup squad if he so wished.

Strauss was thus omitted from England cricket fixtures over the winter. He returned to the test squad for the tour of New Zealand, however made only four in the first warm up match before hitting his own wicket. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/shared/fds/hi/statistics/cricket/scorecards/2008/2/14313/html/scorecard.stm "Tour Match: Invitational XI v England"] BBC News retrieved 24 February 2008] Despite what was now over 25 test innings without a century, Strauss was chosen ahead of Owais Shah (who scored 96 in the same warm up match) to play in the second warm up match, sparking speculation that he would have a place in the test squad for the first match against New Zealand. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/england/7266219.stm "Warm-up spot boosts Strauss hopes"] BBC News retrieved 27 February 2008] Strauss was, however, placed in the number three spot on the batting order, leaving Vaughan and Cook to open as they did in Sri Lanka. His batting in the first innings was poor, and he was dismissed for 5. In the second innings, however, he was returned to the position of opener and scored 104* along with Ian Bell. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/england/7272318.stm "Strauss and Bell find timely form"] BBC News retrieved 1 March 2008]

Strauss continued to play poorly through the first two matches, and was dismissed for a duck in the first innings of the third. In the second innings, however, he reached a century from 226 deliveries, his slowest but his first since August 2006, going on to make his highest score in test cricket, 177. This innings seemed to help Strauss re-find his spark as in the first part of the English domestic season that followed he scored runs prolifically for Middlesex, smashing a 163 off 130 balls against Surrey in a one day match and making a pair of 60s in two innings against New Zealand in the drawn first test at Lord's, London.

He then went on to make a century (out for 106) in the second innings on a difficult batting wicket, during the 2nd test against New Zealand on 26 May 2008 (day 4) at Old Trafford, Manchester which England went on to win by 6 wickets to take a 1:0 lead in the three match series. This was Strauss second test match century at Old Trafford (the first coming against Australia in 2005, when he also scored 106). In the third and final test at Trent Bridge he made 37 in England's first and only innings as England went on to win the series 2-0. He was then named England's man of the series because of his 266 runs at an average of 66.5 [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/7420284.stm "Strauss ton inspires England win"] from BBC News retrieved 26 May 2008]

Test Centuries

References

External links

*cricinfo|ref=england/content/player/20387.html

ee also

International cricketers of South African origin