Andrew Strauss
Sir Andrew John Strauss is an English cricket administrator and former player, formerly the Director of Cricket for the England and Wales Cricket Board. 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. He is currently the managing director of Mindflick, a performance psychometric organisation.
Strauss made his first-class debut in 1998, and his One Day International debut in Sri Lanka in 2003. 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 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 and was named man of the match in his first overseas Test match, in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, in December 2004. 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.
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 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. 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. 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.
Early life and education
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, an all-boys public school in Oxfordshire.He studied economics at the University of Durham, where he was a member of Hatfield College. He wrote his dissertation on "why Perestroika failed in the USSR". In addition to competing for the university, he represented the Hatfield 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:
In a rare distinction, he achieved a full Palatinate for his cricketing activities. He graduated in 1998 with an upper-second class Bachelor of Arts degree.
Life and career
Personal life
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. 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 and Luca. On 29 December 2018, Ruth died of 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. 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. This event day, titled #RedForRuth Day, continues to run as of 2025.On July 8th 2025, Strauss legally married his wife, Antonia Linnaeus-Peat in London. They celebrated their wedding in Franschhoek on 17th December 2025 with close friends and family.
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, Strauss was promoted to Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 2011 Birthday Honours. His alma mater, Durham University, conferred the honorary doctorate of DCL upon him in 2011. In Theresa May's resignation honours on 10 September 2019 he was made a Knight Bachelor. Strauss has written several books on his professional career, Coming Into Play: My Life in Test Cricket, Testing Times: In Pursuit of the Ashes, Winning the Ashes Down Under: The Captains Story, and an autobiography, Driving Ambition, in 2014. Politically, Strauss is a Conservative, raising money for them in a charity auction. David Cameron tried to persuade Strauss to become an MP in 2013, but Strauss turned down the offer.
Domestic career
Having played for the Durham University cricket team and the Middlesex second XI since 1996, Strauss made his Middlesex first XI debut in 1998, scoring 83 in his maiden first-class innings. Despite this, he made a quiet start: he averaged 24 and 30.5 in his first two first-class seasons, and he did not make his maiden first-class century until an innings of 111 not out two years after his debut. Thereafter, Strauss's stock rose quickly: his returns in 2001, 2002 and 2003 were 1211 runs at an average of 45, 1202 at 48 and 1529 at 51. He was appointed captain of Middlesex in 2002, following the retirement of Angus Fraser, and retained the post until the end of the 2004 season. In late August 2011, Strauss hit his highest first-class score of 241 not out against Leicestershire, beating his previous best of 177.Strauss is a Committee Member of Marylebone Cricket Club.
International career
Debut year (2003–04)
Strauss's first taste of international cricket came as part of England's tour of the sub-continent, but he would only fulfil the role of the twelfth man; despite considering himself better in the long form of the game, Strauss was surprised to be selected for the One Day squad. Although he was not selected for the main team, Strauss did make an appearance in a tour match, starring with 51 in an opening partnership of 146 in a slow, but fluent innings. As England moved straight from Bangladesh to Sri Lanka, Strauss continued to put pressure on England opener Vikram Solanki in a tour match top scoring with 83, juxtaposed with Solanki's five ball duck and was rewarded with his England debut in a disastrous ten-wicket defeat where he was caught and bowled by fellow debutant Dinusha Fernando and was subsequently omitted for the rest of the tour.Strauss was given another chance in the tour of the West Indies, even being called up to the Test squad owing to the injury of Mark Butcher. Still he was only given a chance in the ODI team, but he made an impact even at his un-native number three position top scoring with 29 in a tense England win. Despite this he was omitted, after the second abandoned match, until the fifth ODI where he contributed only 10 but made up for it joint top scoring with skipper Michael Vaughan and putting on a good start in an ultimately losing match, making a great first international catch. He also contributed 66 to help win the final match, drawing the series.
Strauss returned home to start the 2004 English season but was chosen to make his Test debut for England after Vaughan sustained a knee injury in the nets. The initial plan was to promote Mark Butcher to the vacant opening batsman position and include Paul Collingwood in the middle order. Butcher declined to move up the order and batted third, meaning Strauss was asked to open the batting and Collingwood missed out on a place in the side. Vaughan's injury turned out to be fortunate for Strauss who, in his first Test innings, top scored with 112 and contributed 82 in the second innings before being run out, with Nasser Hussain taking responsibility for the dismissal. This put Strauss on a series of exclusive lists including being the second English player to score a century on his debut at Lord's, third opener to score a hundred on debut, the fifteenth English player to score a century on his debut, the first since Graham Thorpe in 1993 and only the fourth English player to score a century and half century on his debut. Strauss also made the first dismissal of the Test, catching Stephen Fleming off Simon Jones and was awarded Man of The Match for his efforts. The performance by Strauss excelled his role as a filler for Vaughan, leading to Hussain retiring from cricket allowing for Vaughan to move down the order and Strauss retaining the role of opener opposite Marcus Trescothick. Strauss' form declined over the series, with one half century in the second Test and his first Test duck along with a six in the third Test.
In the ensuing NatWest tri-series that bridged the two tours, England won only one match, where Strauss guided them home with an unbeaten 44, even losing against the West Indies after a century-each partnership of 226 with Andrew Flintoff at Lord's with Strauss recording his first One Day century with an exact 100. Strauss continued to make Lord's a talisman as he returned for the opening Test of the series against West Indies with another century opposite Rob Key's 221 in a winning effort; the two also set the record for highest second wicket partnership against the West Indies. In the third Test at Old Trafford where Brian Lara scored his ten thousandth run, Strauss faltered after five hours at the crease falling just short of another century at 90. In the final part of a packed 2004 season, Strauss guided England to victory with 44 not out against India in the NatWest Challenge opening One Day match but only scored 2 a piece in the following two matches. Then, in the 2004 ICC Champions Trophy at home Strauss contributed towards a win against Zimbabwe and then starred in the semi-final against old enemies Australia with 52 not out from 42. However, along with the rest of the team aside from Trescothick he failed to muster a decent total in the final allowing West Indies to take the trophy.