Andrew Strauss

Who is Andrew Strauss?

Andrew John Strauss, OBE is a retired English cricketer who played county cricket for Middlesex County Cricket Club and is a former captain of England's Test cricket team. A fluent left-handed opening batsman, Strauss favoured scoring off the back foot, mostly playing cut and pull shots. Strauss was also known for his fielding strength at slip or in the covers.

Strauss made his first-class debut in 1998, and his One Day International debut in Sri Lanka in 2003. He quickly rose to fame on his Test match debut replacing the injured Michael Vaughan at Lord's against New Zealand in 2004. With scores of 112 and 83 in an England victory, and the man of the match award, 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. Strauss again nearly scored two centuries and was named man of the match in his first overseas Test match, in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, in December 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.