Strauss Has Hung Up His Boots

Yesterday, at roughly 12-00, Andrew Strauss publicly retired from all forms of professional cricket, and the opening segment of this post is a kind of tribute to a fantastic player who's career has had ups and downs.

Strauss first class career started back in the last millennium in the year of 1998 where he made his Middlesex debut and scored 83 in his maiden innings. But having stuttered slightly after this sparkling debut he didn't break on to the international scene until 2003.

His international debut was hardly the way he wanted to introduce him self though, England lost by 10 wickets and Strauss struggled.

He would have to wait till the start of the next English season for his next chance, courtesy of a Michael Vaughan knee injury. And my lord didn't he shine in his first test in England. At Lords, the home of cricket, he opened the batting for the three lions and a hit a century. But he wasn't finished there, in the second innings he hit a half century to take his average after just one test match at nearly 100. Not bad.

The rest is history, he helped England win the Ashes in 2005 and after being appointed as captain a couple of years back, he won the ashes in England and then again in Aussie territory for the first time since donkeys years back.

Andrew Strauss Beaming After Winning The Ashes
 

But then in 2011 another honour was added to his long list of achievements, when he captained the three lions to victory against India to take Blighty to number one in the test rankings.

It's been tough since then, nobody can deny that.

A tough winter in the UAE against Pakistan was followed by a mickey mouse series against West Indies and more recently a series loss against South Africa meant that SA won the number one ranking.

That was just a few days ago now, and Strauss has decided to call curtains on his career. Whether that was anything to do with the KP affair, we may never know. (KP has clearly been a massive knob, and has a lot of bridges to rebuild)

Personally, I think it did, but that's just my opinion and I can't prove it. But the main reason is obviously the fact that he has been awfully out of nick for the past year or so, and at the age of 35 you can't help but think that he might never get that golden touch back.

But regardless of the reason for his retirement at this current time, his career has been magnificent, and that was just one of hundreds of tributes that have been given to Straussy today.

The second part of this post is going to be about the future, and what is going to happen next for the English cricket team...

Alaister Cook has been appointed as Strauss' replacement, and while I do not doubt his batting ability, I am still a tad unsure about if his captain skills match those of his batting. He seems to know what he is doing. But I wonder if he will be able to cope with situations such as the KP affair.

Only time will tell.

The other matter is who will come in and open the batting for England?

There isn't a clear choice for the vacant role, I've heard Trott's name thrown about but I think he is 100% suited to the number 3 role in the side. The same goes for Bell and the number 4 spot.

Alex Hales is one possible player who could come in and open the batting, and he seems to be the best option along with Michael Carberry available to the selectors. Its a tough one, there is no obvious choice waiting in the wings to replace Strauss and we will have to wait and see who replace's Strauss...

Cheers