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Full name Andrew John Strauss
Born March 2, 1977, Johannesburg, Transvaal, South Africa
Current age 31 years 76 days
Major teams England, Middlesex, Northern Districts
Nickname Straussy, Levi, Mareman, Muppet
Playing role Opening batsman
Batting style Left-hand bat
Bowling style Left-arm medium
Height 5 ft 11 in
Education Radley College, Durham University

Batting and fielding averages
	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	BF	SR	100	50	4s	6s	Ct
Tests	46	87	2	3497	177	41.14	7003	49.93	11	11	445	6	57
ODIs	78	77	7	2239	152	31.98	2953	75.82	2	14	240	8	28
T20Is	3	3	0	51	33	17.00	39	130.76	0	0	7	0	1
First-class	149	267	12	10273	177	40.28			25	45			120
List A	195	188	13	5373	163	30.70			6	33			59
Twenty20	18	18	0	367	60	20.38	275	133.45	0	2	54	3	9

Bowling averages
	Mat	Inns	Balls	Runs	Wkts	BBI	BBM	Ave	Econ	SR	4w	5w	10
Tests	46	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
ODIs	78	1	6	3	0	-	-	-	3.00	-	0	0	0
T20Is	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
First-class	149		84	74	2	1/16		37.00	5.28	42.0		0	0
List A	195		6	3	0	-	-	-	3.00	-	0	0	0
Twenty20	18	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Career statistics
Test debut	England v New Zealand at Lord's, May 20-24, 2004 scorecard
Last Test	New Zealand v England at Napier, Mar 22-26, 2008 scorecard
Test statistics
ODI debut	Sri Lanka v England at Dambulla, Nov 18, 2003 scorecard
Last ODI	West Indies v England at Bridgetown, Apr 21, 2007 scorecard
ODI statistics
T20I debut	England v Australia at Southampton, Jun 13, 2005 scorecard
Last T20I	England v Pakistan at Bristol, Aug 28, 2006 scorecard
T20I statistics
First-class debut	1998
Last First-class	Essex v Middlesex at Chelmsford, May 7-10, 2008 scorecard
List A debut	1997
Last List A	Sussex v Middlesex at Hove, May 5, 2008 scorecard
Twenty20 debut	Surrey v Middlesex at The Oval, Jun 13, 2003 scorecard
Last Twenty20	Central Districts v Northern Districts at New Plymouth, Feb 3, 2008 scorecard

Profile

On May 21, 2004, playing against New Zealand, Andrew Strauss wrote his name into the record-books when he became only the fourth batsman to score a century at Lord's on his Test debut. It was the culmination of a rapid rise to prominence for Strauss, who as captain of Middlesex, was at least on familiar territory for the big occasion. As a fluid and attractive left-hand opener, Strauss knew all about pressure and how to handle it. His stock rose exponentially in 2002 and 2003, following the unforeseen retirement of Middlesex's captain, Angus Fraser, who swapped his sweater for a laptop and took up the role of cricket correspondent for the Independent newspaper. Strauss filled the breach admirably, and 1400 runs in his first full season in charge in 2003 proved that he was not a man to be fazed by responsibility. He was born in Johannesburg in March 1977, but is a very English product, having learned his game at Radley College and Durham University. At the crease, there is something of the Graham Thorpe about Strauss's ability to accumulate runs without recourse to big shots, and it was this trait that earned him a place in England's one-day squad for the winter tours in 2003-04. After cementing his place with a pair of attractive sixties against West Indies, he confirmed his star quality - and his affinity for Lord's - with a hundred against the same opposition on his first one-day appearance in front of his home crowd. In doing so became only the fifth player to have scored their first Test and one-day international hundreds on the same ground, and later added a century there in his first game as captain as well. Strauss went on to have a scintillating summer for England, ratcheting up runs against both New Zealand and West Indies, but that was only his warm-up act. In South Africa that same winter, he won the first Test single handedly with scores of 126 and 94 not out at Port Elizabeth, and added two further hundreds in recording a phenomenal tally of 656 runs. It was always going to be hard to cap that sort of a debut year, and yet Strauss managed it, as he overcame his uncertainties against both Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne to record two more centuries in England's historic Ashes victory. The following summer he became England's captain by default, after both Michael Vaughan and Andrew Flintoff were ruled out with injuries. He started with a traumatic 5-0 whitewash against Sri Lanka in the one-day series, but another Test hundred at Lord's helped settle him into the role. Flintoff's absence handed him the captaincy for the subsequent Test series against Pakistan too, which England won 3-0, Strauss notching his second hundred as captain in the third Test. But, the following winter in Australia - overlooked as leader in favour of Flintoff - he suffered his first prolonged loss of form, managing a total of two fifties in 20 innings on tour. That led to him being dropped at the start of the World Cup before he eventually regained his place in a struggling top order. But it had been a rapid fall from grace since being captain eight months earlier and, after a poor summer, he was dropped for England's tour of Sri Lanka in December. The return, though, was equally swift as he was recalled for the New Zealand trip early in 2008 despite having no chance to show his form. With two forties in the first couple of Tests, falling to horribly weak strokes, his England future was in serious jeopardy going into the final Test in Napier, but he responded with a gritty and emotional 177 to seal - if not entirely cement - his spot for the 2008 summer.
Andrew Miller April 2008