Andrew Strauss

Andrew Strauss is a retired cricketer who was born in South Africa in 1977 but moved to England at the age of six. 

He went on to become one of England's most successful captains in history as only Michael Vaughan had more wins in the job in the modern era.

Strauss first played domestic cricket in England in 1998 when he made his debut for Middlesex. He scored 83 in his opening innings for the county. Despite a positive start, he could only average 24 and then 30.5 from his first two seasons at the club.

From 2001 onwards, Straus became one of the highest scoring batsmen in county cricket. In 2001 he scored 1,211 runs at an average of 45. A year later he made 1,202 at 48, while in 2003 he scored as many as 1529 for the campaign with an average of 51.

In 2003 the left-handed batsman made his debut for England in a one-day international in Sri Lanka. He made just three runs in the 10-wicket defeat where he was caught and bowled by Dinusha Fernando in his short innings.

His Test debut ended much better in 2004 in a match against New Zealand at Lords. He opened the batting for the Three Lions and made 112 and 82, respectively, in the two innings. That performance resulted in the opener picking up the man of the match award. He also became the fourth batsman in history to make a century on his debut at the home of cricket.

Strauss was appointed England's permanent Test captain in 2008 ahead of the tour of the West Indies. That came after Kevin Pietersen had resigned from his post. Unfortunately for the Middlesex man, he started his reign with a defeat.

In 2009 Strauss led England to a 2-1 Ashes victory over Australia on home soil. The opening batsman made 474 runs, the highest by any player from either side during the five match series.

Further Ashes joy went the South African born cricketer's way during the tour down under in 2010-2011. He joined Mike Brearley and Len Hutton as the only three captains to win an Ashes series both home and away. England came out on top 3-1 after winning the final two Test matches to secure the victory and ensure they took the urn back home with them.

Strauss chose to retire from all forms of cricket on August 29th, 2012. That came shortly after he featured in his 100th Test match for England.

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