Strauss retires from all cricket

England Test captain Andrew Strauss today announced his retirement from professional cricket with immediate effect.

The 35-year-old Middlesex opening batsman, who led England to two Ashes victories and the summit of the Test rankings, is retiring after 14 years in the professional game.

Strauss will be replaced as Test captain by Alastair Cook, who will also continue to lead the one-day international side.

Strauss made his England debut in an ODI against Sri Lanka in 2003 and was awarded a Test cap a year later against New Zealand, scoring a century on debut.

                                                   Strauss scores a century on debut against the Kiwis

He has gone on to win 100 Test caps, captaining the side in 50 of those matches, and also make 124 appearances in ODIs and four in Twenty20 internationals.

His international career has spanned 11 years, during which the left-handed batsman has scored 21 Test centuries and six ODI hundreds.

Strauss said: “After much thought over the last few weeks, I have decided to step down as England Test captain and announce my retirement from all forms of cricket.

"It has clearly been a tough decision to make, but I believe that it is both in the best interests of the England cricket team and myself to step down at this stage.

"There are too many people who have helped me on this incredible journey to mention them all by name, but I would like to thank all the Middlesex and England players I have played alongside, as well as the phenomenal coaches and support staff with whom I have been fortunate enough to work.

"Particular mention has to go to Andy Flower and Duncan Fletcher in that regard. It would also be remiss of me not to thank Middlesex county cricket club, the ECB and the PCA for their support and guidance over the years.

“No-one can play international cricket for any length of time without having an incredibly strong support network around them, and I'd like to take this opportunity to thank my family for going through it alongside me over the course of my England career.

“I am extremely proud of everything I have achieved as a cricketer, and I have found myself very fortunate to play in an era when some of English cricket's greatest moments have occurred.

"I have loved every minute of it and all that remains is for me to wish Andy, Alastair and the rest of the team the very best for the coming months. I will be an interested spectator."

                                                                      Strauss poses with the Ashes urn

David Collier, ECB Chief Executive, commented: “On behalf of the ECB and everyone involved in cricket, I’d like to thank Andrew Strauss for his outstanding contribution to the game.

“Andrew has been a highly successful captain and opening batsman for Middlesex and England, who will be remembered for leading the side to two Ashes victories and to the top of the Test rankings.

"He has shown tremendous integrity, dedication and commitment both on and off the field and under his leadership the side has grown immeasurably and reached new levels of professionalism.

“Andrew’s calmness and authority when dealing with some of the most difficult moments in our sport in recent times should be applauded and I have no doubt that his contribution as an ambassador for the game will be recognised by anyone who has had an opportunity to spend time with him.

"His legacy within the game will be felt for many years to come and we now need to continue to build on the progress we have made under his leadership.

“I would like to congratulate Alastair on becoming Test captain. He has shown he has the traits needed to be a successful captain and has demonstrated his leadership capabilities as one-day captain over the last 16 months.

"On behalf of the ECB I would like to wish Alastair and Andy Flower all the very best for the exciting challenges that lie ahead.”

                                            Alastair Cook will take over from Strauss as England Test captain

Cook said: “Andrew’s contribution to England cricket in recent years is evident to everyone who follows the sport, but only those of us who have been lucky enough to share a dressing room with him are fully aware of his immense contribution to our success.

"He has been a fantastic captain, has led from the front for three and a half years and is a true ambassador for the game.

"To have played 100 Tests for your country is a phenomenal achievement and I want to congratulate him on a superb career.

"I know this can’t have been an easy decision for him and everyone in the dressing room will be sad to see him go.

"I’m very excited by this new challenge; it is a huge honour to be appointed Test captain and I am very much looking forward to captaining the side in India this winter and beyond, but my immediate focus is on this current NatWest one-day series.

"Once the series is over I will turn my attention to the Test captaincy and building on the work Andrew has started.”

ecb.co.uk
image
image
image

England announce squad for Pakistan series

England have announced a sixteen man squad to take on Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates next month.

Stuart Broad, Eoin Morgan and Chris Tremlett have all recovered from injury and are included, whilst Monty Panesar is selected as second spinner. Ravi Bopara keeps his place after replacing the injured Jonathan Trott against India, and Steven Davies returns as Matt Prior's understudy. Tim Bresnan remains the only doubt having recently undergone elbow surgery.

Perhaps most surprising is the inclusion of Panesar who has not played for England since the first Test of the 2009 Ashes series. Since then Graeme Swann has gone on to establish himself as both England's and the world's premier offspin bowler, however with trips to Sri Lanka and India later in the year England are clearly keen to once again integrate Panesar into their plans. His chances of playing against Pakistan remain slim though with Andrew Strauss and Andy Flower likely to maintain the tried and tested six batsman, four bowlers ratio that worked so effectively this year.

Ravi Bopara will also likely find himself on the sidelines at least initially as England's batsman aim to continue what was a prolific year with the willow in hand. Having fought off competition from the likes of James Taylor and Johnny Bairstow, Bopara has done well to at least keep himself in the England setup, although he will have to make a marked improvement on his last outing in the subcontinent (Sri Lanka, 2007) if he is to remain in the picture in 2012.

With a cloud still hanging over Tim Bresnan, Steven Finn  and Chris Tremlett will also be looking to stake their claim for a recall in the two three-day warm up matches before the first Test on January 16.

Andy Flower named coach of the year

England team director Andy Flower has been named UK Coach of the Year at the 2011 UK coaching awards.

Flower was also named UK High Performance Coach of the Year after a year of unprecedented success for the England cricket team. In partnership with captain Andrew Strauss Flower oversaw an historic 3-1 Ashes victory in Australia as well as a 4-0 whitewash of India as England finished the summer as the world's number one Test playing nation.


ECB Chief Executive David Collier was quick to recognise Flower's contribution."Andy has been an outstanding coach to the England cricket team and I am delighted that his dedication, knowledge and all-round leadership skills have been recognised within the wider sporting world."

"The last twelve months have been momentous ones for England and this is in no small part due to Andy's personal drive and determination to bring the best out of his players and ensure that our preparation and performance are second to none."

Retirement

Flower has also recently suggested that he may well not be coaching England by the time of the next World Cup in 2015 but is dedicated to leaving a long-term legacy to ensure England maintain their status as the world's best team.

The Zimbabwean signed an improved rolling contract with the ECB last summer but admits that family commitments may one day force him to step down.

"That [2015 World Cup] would be the ideal scenario but I have a young family and it is a full-time job, more so in some respects,” Flower said. “You don’t know what is around the corner. In my present position I will definitely keep planning towards that [2015] sort of longevity but realistically I don’t know."

Flower is currently enjoying a three month break from cricket before England travel to the United Arab Emirates in January to play Pakistan but is already focusing his attention on challenges ahead. “To remain No 1 is a serious challenge for us."


"We aimed for No 1 Test ranking and that was a great motivational tool for us. Now we have achieved that other sides will be doing the chasing and we have to reset our standards. We have underperformed in the 50-over game.


"The next World Cup is in Australia in 2015 and that is one of the specific challenges we have. For Andrew Strauss and myself, we want to put in place a method of operation and certain principles that will stand English cricket in very good stead in the long term."

Cook and Strauss in all male SPA shortlist

England captain Andrew Strauss and vice-captain Alastair Cook have been shortlisted for the 2011 Sports Personality of the Year Award.

Strauss and Cook have been integral to a magnificent year for English cricket. A thumping victory in the Ashes down under was followed by an equally impressive 4-0 whitewash of India on home soil this summer, a result that meant England would begin 2012 as the world's no. 1 Test team.

After a poor run of form in the summer of 2010 Cook was a man under pressure, but with 766 runs in five Ashes Tests and 294 against India this summer - the sixth highest score by an Englishman and the best since Graham Gooch's 333 against the same apposition in 1990 - the elegant Essex opener proved he was here to stay.

He was duly rewarded with the One Day captaincy and went on to preside over series victories against Sri Lanka and India, all the while contributing handsomely at the top of the order. A 5-0 defeat in India at the back end of the summer reminded Cook that captaincy could not be taken for granted, but having overcome obstacles in his short career so far it would be no surprise if Cook returned with aplomb in 2012.

As Test captain however Andrew Strauss's success has almost been untainted this year. Unbeaten in their last nine series Strauss has given England the kind of stability and calm that they needed after the disastrous series in the West Indies in 2008.

In 2011 Strauss masterminded an astonishing Ashes victory in Australia and helped England to their first whitewash over India since 1974. In partnership with Andy Flower, Strauss has helped mould England into a prolific and highly professional unit who will once again be looking to assert their authority over world cricket when they face Pakistan and Sri Lanka this winter.

Master's of all trades: A bright future for English cricket

Over the past two decades cricket has been blessed with a handful of truly extraordinary performers. Yet it seems that as we enter the second decade of the new millennium that these once-in-a-generation superstars are now all but absent from our beloved game. Gone are Warne and McGrath, Ambrose and Walsh, Hayden and Langer and in their place a new breed of cricketer, the modern day allrounder.

Now don't be fooled. This new crop of talent are not, perhaps regretably, all budding Ian Bothams, Imran Khans, or, dare I say it, Andrew Flintoffs. They are not extroverts, nor sticklers for controversy, but rather normal, law-abiding professionals whose exploits tend to remain on the back rather than the front pages of the now presumably disinterested press. They are however slowly paving the way for a new era in international cricket, and one I'm happy to say is being led by the English.

So, what is this new 'all-rounder' I speak of? Well, in the absence of what Geoffrey Boycott would call truly 'great players', and with international cricket now played regularly across three different formats, cricketers are becoming increasingly aware of the need to diversify beyond the confines of their chosen specialty if they are to remain a permanent fixture in their team. This, as was evident with the Indian team this summer, is a mantra more readily embraced by some nations than others.

The hard truth is that unless you bowl at 95 mph, average over 50 runs per innings or turn the ball both ways then you can no longer rely on your primary trade, be it batting, bowling or wicketkeeping, to keep you in cricket's elite.

As the world's premier test nation, Ashes holders and World Twenty20 champions, England, it seems, have bought into this new philosophy of utility cricket more than most. Having watched with great interest, and at times a surprising amount of jubilation, England's ascent to the peak of the game ever since the disastrous series in the Caribbean in early 2009, I think it now time to reflect on why England's band of multi-talented cricketers have got this far.

Lead by example
If asked who more than most was responsible for England's rise to the top few would give Peter Moores any real consideration. Yet whilst his tenure as England coach may have been marred by scandal leading to his eventual dismissal in early 2009, he was to make one decision that would prove pivotal to England's subsequent success - Andy Flower.

Having employed Flower as batting coach at the national academy in 2005, Moores went on to appoint him his assistant when he took charge of the England team some two years later. While Moores' impact as a coach may have been generally uninspiring, his recognition of Flower's talents would be crucial to England's longevity as a top flight team. Taking over temporarily after Moores' departure, Flower eventually agreed to take the job full time, and despite a sticky start in the Caribbean England has never looked back since.

Alongside Andrew Strauss, Flower has taken an approach quite unique from that of his predecessors. With little support from cricket's 'old boys'  he has set about creating a squad of professionals whose value is measured by their all-round performance rather than a player's reputation; a welcome departure from the narrow-mindedness that haunted England after the 2005 Ashes.

It is an approach that no doubt stems from his own experience as a cricketer. A world class wicket-keeper batsman and also national captain not too long ago, England's 'team director' knows full well the importance of cricketers who can contribute beyond their primary trade, and after nearly three years in charge his work is starting to pay off. England's bowlers now field better than almost entire sub-continental teams, Prior has elevated himself to perhaps the best wicket keeper batsman in the world (now Sanga has hung up his gloves) and England no longer have any genuine tail-enders. Flower has not only hand-picked a world-beating side but has developed an effective and lasting ethos that could see England at the top of the international game for many years to come.

Staying in shape
One of the marked changes to English cricket under Andy Flower has been to make cricketers into athletes. Over the years and largely thanks to exercise-resistant commentators like Sir Ian and Lord Gower, there has been an ongoing debate as to whether cricketers are perhaps over-trained. With new dietary regimes, team building weekends and even in-house psychologists many of cricket's stodgy elite have rubbished England's decidedly alcohol-free approach to match preparation. Once again though they couldn't be more wrong!

With the help of fitness fanatic Graham Gooch, Flower has created a team of lean and powerful cricketers whose physical prowess has been a deciding factor in recent times. Even Australia, whose penchant for fitness has been at the heart of their success for years, had to tip their hat to England this winter as they were made to toil in the heat for days on end as the likes of Cook and Trott pilled on the runs. Meanwhile the likes of Broad and Anderson had their feet up on the balcony fresh to rip through the Aussies as and when England decided they'd had enough.

Even against India this summer, who on paper looked a fine match for the home side, England's stamina and focus ultimately proved the deciding factor between the two teams. Indian players were sent home injured and England never took their foot off the pedal. Whilst fitness levels may only give a team an extra five per cent in a one day match (India's love-affair: IPL), over the course of Test series teams can find themselves quickly out of touch with their rivals if they are not physically prepared.

England though are cautious not to expect too much from their players, and whilst they firmly believe that players who contribute to all areas of the game are truly valuable commodities, they also understand that, especially considering English cricket's jam-packed schedule, it is not realistic to expect the same eleven players to perform at the same level all the time. As a result England management have introduced the strengthening and conditioning programme, giving players the opportunity to rest their bodies and to work on their core fitness for when they return to the team. Another example of staunch traditionalists eating their words the programme has been and continues to be a resounding success, and the resting of players like Steven Finn, James Anderson and Kevin Pietersen has helped England keep key players fresh and develop new and exciting prospects, especially in the longer form of the game.

Team Spirit
England more than most are a team who want to do things for each other. They enjoy one another's success and they work as a team. Whereas Andrew Flintoff tried to (and often did) do everything himself this current England team whilst brilliant individuals combine to create a truly all-round team motivated not just by their own performance but by the efforts of others.

Never does an England player in a post-match interview heap the praise on himself. Whilst it may be dull for those writing about the team, each and every player always takes time to congratulate the team effort and to express their delight that, despite having taken five wickets themselves, it is all the better only for the overall team performance. There is a sense of democracy about England at the moment. There is no great void between younger and older players, or one player propping up the team all the time, instead each player recognises that they can make a contribution and crucially that, however small, that contribution is valued.

To be an 'all-round team' a feeling of togetherness is essential, this means both on and off the field. Freddie's pedalo for example may have found England cricketers pushing the boat out a little too far in their spare time, but a few years later and Graeme Swann's Ashes diary seemed to have quite the opposite effect. Providing a hilarious but also encouraging insight into the England team's after hours shenanigans Swann's tapes revealed a team enjoying each other's company and a team spririt that has helped England team become the epitome of modern day all-rounders.