Andrew Strauss

Sir Andrew John Strauss (born 2 March 1977) is an English cricket administrator and former player, formerly the Director of Cricket for the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).

He played county cricket for Middlesex, and captained the England national team in all formats of the game.

A fluent left-handed opening batsman, Strauss favoured scoring off the back foot, mostly playing cut and pull shots.

He 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 (ODI) debut in Sri Lanka in 2003.

He graduated in 1998 with an upper-second class BA degree.

During his early career, Strauss spent several years in the cities of Sydney and Adelaide in Australia, and briefly played first-grade cricket alongside Australian bowler Brett Lee.

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 (run out) 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 (126 and 94 not out) and was named man of the match in his first overseas Test match, in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, in December 2004.

While in Australia he met his future wife, actress Ruth McDonald, whom he married in October 2003 and lived in Marlow, with their sons, Sam (born 4 December 2005) and Luca (14 July 2008).

Having deputised for Michael Vaughan as England captain in 2006, Strauss was appointed on a permanent basis for the 2008–09 tour of the West Indies following Kevin Pietersen's resignation.

He 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.

After a poor tour for England, he was recalled into the squad for the 2008 tour of New Zealand and subsequently re-established himself in the side with a career-best 177 in the third and final Test of that series, and a further three centuries in 2008.

He enjoyed success with three centuries, and retained the captaincy into 2009.

Strauss captained the England team to a 2–1 victory in the 2009 Ashes, scoring a series total of 474 runs, more than any other player on either side, including 161 in England's first victory in an Ashes Test at Lord's in 75 years.

Having played in one such Pink Test himself in 2011, Strauss along with the Ruth Strauss Foundation secured Day 2 of the Lord's Test as a similar partner event ahead of the 2019 Ashes.

Strauss is President of the Primary Club Juniors, a charity which helps fund blind cricket.

In aid of the cause he took part in a blind game, wearing a blindfold and being dismissed on his second ball.

He has a variety of nicknames ranging from Straussy, Levi and Johann, to the more obscure Lord Brocket, Mareman, The General, Jazzer, Muppet and Mr Potato Head.

Already Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE), Strauss was promoted to Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2011 Birthday Honours.

His alma mater, Durham University, conferred the honorary doctorate of DCL upon him in 2011.

He held the record for most catches by a fielder for England – going past Ian Botham and Colin Cowdrey at Lord's against South Africa in 2012 – until he was in turn overtaken by Alastair Cook.

He relinquished the Test captaincy and retired from all forms of professional cricket on 29 August 2012, following his 100th test, which concluded a series defeat by South Africa that saw the England Test team lose their number-one ranking.

He left the job as the second-most successful captain of England in terms of wins, behind only his former opening partner Michael Vaughan.

At the end of his retirement press conference he received an unprecedented round of applause from the assembled media.

He became the ECB's Director of Cricket in 2015, shortly before the sacking of Peter Moores.

On 29 December 2018, Ruth died after a battle with a rare form of lung cancer.

In the wake of Ruth's death, Andrew reached out to former Ashes adversary Glenn McGrath, who had himself been widowed by cancer after Glenn's wife Jane – a native of Paignton, Devon – had died of breast cancer.

Following Jane's death, Glenn had started the McGrath Foundation to fight breast cancer and secured the Sydney Test as a partner event, with Jane McGrath Day marked as Day 3 and the stumps, player caps and fan clothes all in pink.

As a result of his services to English cricket, Strauss was appointed a Knight Bachelor in Theresa May's resignation honours on 10 September 2019.

Strauss moved to the UK at the age of six.

He was educated at Caldicott School, a boys' prep school in Buckinghamshire, followed by Radley College, a public boarding school for boys in Oxfordshire.

He studied economics at the University of Durham, and wrote his dissertation on supermodular games.

In addition to competing for the university he represented the Hatfield College side, where one of his teammates was the cricket statistician Benedict Bermange.

Strauss also competed for the university rugby club as a fly-half, starting in the 3rd XV and soon moving up to the 2nd XV.

Graeme Fowler, his coach at the university, was eventually able to convince Strauss to focus exclusively on cricket:

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In a rare distinction, he achieved a full Palatinate for his cricketing activities.

In Theresa May's resignation honours on 10 September 2019 he was made a Knight Bachelor.