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 his spot for the 2008 summer. When the teams reconvened in England, it was business as usual as Strauss produced a Man-of-the-Series performance to set up a 2-0 win.
Andrew Miller June 2008

Wisden Cricketer of the Year 2005
Awarded the MBE on 31st December 2005

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