Pakistani Cricket Players: Andrew Strauss

Andrew Strauss Biography
Andrew John Strauss will be the captain of the English Test cricket team and he also plays county cricket for Middlesex. Born in South Africa in 1977, Andrew Strauss is regarded as one of the very best left-handed batsman to have played for England. He has been conferred with Member of the British Empire (MBE) and also the Order of the British Empire (OBE) by the Queen for his exceptional services to cricket.

Early Cricketing Career

Andrew Strauss began playing cricket in Australia when he was attending the Caulfield Grammar School in Melbourne. He was educated at the Caldicott School, Radley College, and Hatfield College, lastly completing his education with a degree in Economics from the prestigious Durham University. He is married to Ruth MacDonald, who is an Australian actress. They have two young children, Sam aged six, and Luca, aged 3. Andrew Strauss was a typical feature in the Durham University cricket team and has also played for the Middlesex second XI since 1996. Strauss created his way into the Middlesex 1st XI in the year 1998, making a patient 83, but his efficiency was ordinary inside the rest of the series. It took Strauss two years to make his maiden first-class hundred. He performed consistently using the bat, helping himself to become the captain of Middlesex in 2002.

International Debut

Andrew Strauss was selected for England’s tour of the sub-continent, beginning with England taking on Bangladesh in a One Day International (ODI) series. He played a tour match, scoring 51, but didn’t get an chance to be a component of playing eleven against Bangladesh. Following the Bangladesh tour, England flew to Sri Lanka, where he finally got a chance to represent England. He didn’t make one of the most of it and was subsequently dropped for the rest of the tour. Strauss got an additional chance, this time in West Indies where he produced a sturdy 29, helping England to win the match. He was omitted from the squad once again, until the final match where he scored a fluent 66, resulting into England drawing the series.

After the England team returned residence to host New Zealand, an injury to Michael Vaughan allowed him to feature in the playing eleven. He grabbed the opportunity with both hands, scoring 112 inside the very first innings and 82 in the second (he was run out in second innings and Naseer Hussain, who was the other batsman, took the responsibility for it). His impressive efficiency launched him as a formidable left-hander for England, also creating him the second English player to score a century on debut at Lord’s. He also became the fourth Englishman in the history of cricket to score a century and a half-century on debut. He was awarded the Man of the Match for his efforts and established himself as a powerful contender for the opener’s slot inside the Test team. When Naseer Hussain decided to quit international cricket, Strauss was given the responsibility to open the England innings, together with fellow southpaw Marcus Trescothick. In the ensuing Natwest series, Strauss scored his very first ODI hundred, which also saw him build a 226 run partnership with Andrew Flintoff.

The next main landmark in Andrew Strauss’s career came in 2005, the year that changed everything for English cricket. England won the Ashes 2005, having a 2-1 win over arch-rivals Australia, lifting the symbolic urn following 18 years. Andrew Strauss could not do considerably in the very first two Tests, his highest score being 48 inside the first innings of the second Test match. Even so, Strauss came back strongly within the second innings of the third Test match, scoring 106, helping his side to post a challenging 371 on board. The fourth Test match, which is regarded as many to be one of the most effective Ashes matches ever, saw Strauss make notable contributions using the bat in a low-scoring match. Inside the final as well as the deciding Test, Strauss held the fort, while wickets kept on falling at the other end, scoring a defiant 129, an innings which helped England develop history, prompting frenzy celebrations across the country.

After his Ashes histrionics, the England team toured Pakistan, where Strauss didn’t have a really impressive run using the bat within the Test matches. He had to return home to be there with his wife as she delivered their first child. Strauss returned to Pakistan, and except a match-winning 94, didn’t carry out well within the ODI’s. England toured India next, where Strauss, again didn’t contribute significantly with the bat, apart from a test hundred. It was in the ODI series against India that Strauss got the chance to lead the English side as Andrew Flintoff required a break.

Captaincy

Strauss was made the official captain for the Pakistan’s tour of England and even though Strauss performed well, guiding England to win the Test match series, the summer was remembered far more for the Ovalgate fiasco, when umpires Darrell Hair and Billy Doctrove felt that the ball had been tampered by the Pakistani fieldsmen. Pakistan team objected strongly to this allegation and decided not to take the field as a mark of protest. Inside the subsequent 1 day series, Strauss played a essential innings of 35 in the fourth Test match allowed England to level the series. Although Strauss scored two half-centuries in three matches in Champion’s trophy in India, the team as a entire could not do much, with just one win over the West Indies.

Strauss had to create way for Andrew Flintoff as the captain of the England team as he was declared totally fit. The period from 2006-07 saw a dip in his from and he was ultimately dropped from the ODI side. Strauss took a short break from cricket and when he was recalled for the 2008 tour of New Zealand, he didn’t disappoint the selectors and created a career best 177 at Napier. He continued his very good form against South Africa and India, generating two hundreds in the very same Test match against the latter.

Strauss was as soon as once more entrusted with the job of captaincy in January 2009 and amassed 541 runs against West Indies with an impressive average of 67.62. England lost the away series but atoned the defeat when they hosted West Indies. Andrew Strauss played a essential function within the 2009 Ashes series, defeating Australia 2-1 and when once again bringing property the coveted urn. Andrew Strauss was named the Man of the Series for his contribution with the bat.

Perhaps the greatest achievement for Andrew Strauss’s captaincy was winning the 2010-11 Ashes series in Australia, producing him the third English captain after Mike Brearley and Len Hutton to win an Ashes series at residence and away. England won the series 3-1, which also produced Ricky Ponting, the captain of the Australian team to turn into the very first Australian captain to surrender the Ashes thrice.

The 2011 Cricket World Cup, was rather erratic for England. They won against South Africa, but lost to minnows Ireland and Bangladesh. England crashed out of the quarter-final stage of the Globe Cup, however, not a lot of questions had been asked on Strauss’s captaincy as it was normally agreed that English players had played too much cricket just before the Globe Cup, leading to fatigue and injuries to their star players.

As Simon Hughes, a cricket journalist who spent some time with Andrew Strauss for a book, points out, Andrew Strauss may not have the aura or the invincibility that one typically associates with a captain, his capacity to stay calm in essential situations, backed by the immense belief that he has in himself has created him 1 of the highly rated cricketers in the planet.

Andrew Strauss