Full name         : Andrew John Strauss

 Born                 : 2 March 1977, Johannesburg, Transvaal, South Africa

 Current age     : 30 years  

 Major teams    : England, Middlesex

 Nick Name       : Straussy, Levi, Mareman, Muppet

 Batting style    : Left-hand bat
 
 Bowling style   : Left-arm medium





He was born in Johannesburg in March 1977, and yet playing for Middlesex in the English county, a young man lit the eyes of everyone who watched him play with scintillating knocks in the seasons of 2002-03 and ever since always knocked on the doors of the England team time and again. 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.

There haven't been too many Cricketers from Middlesex who have played for England and made an impact. Andrew John Strauss is one of those few who have created more than an impact. He made a lot of runs for Middlesex and caught the eyes of the selectors in mid 2003.


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. 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 singlehandedly 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.