AJ Strauss of England

Full Name:

Andrew John Strauss

DoB:

Wednesday, March 02, 1977

Birthplace:

Johannesburg

Teams:

Middlesex

Test Debut:

v New Zealand at Lord's, 2004

ODI Debut:

v Sri Lanka at Dambulla, 2003

Bats:

LH

Bowls:

n/a

Player Record:

link to stats

Andrew Strauss has had an extraordinary 12 months in Test cricket but the Australian attack will pose new challenges.

Up to the start of the Ashes Strauss had dealt well with all challenges thrown at him in Tests, including South African's quality seam attack. But he had not faced a world-class spin bowler like Shane Warne, nor a bowler able to swing the ball into him at pace, like Brett Lee.

Australia will focus on Strauss because he proved he was a world-class batsman when he carried England's below-par team to a historic 2-1 series win in South Africa. The Middlesex man won the 1st Test in Port Elizabeth almost single-handedly with scores of 126 and 94*, and added two more hundreds in racking up 656 runs in a mesmeric first away series.

Doubts had been expressed about his supposedly risky lofted pull shot, but it became one of the keys to his success as it had been for Michael Vaughan in the 2002-03 Ashes tour.

With nerveless audacity Strauss repeatedly pulled balls that were barely short of a length, forcing the bowlers to pitch the ball up, and thence to be met with his imperious cover drives.

The fact that the 28-year-old looked so complete a Test player has led to queries about why he wasn't picked earlier. But Strauss was never a precocious player and his long apprenticeship in county cricket meant he knew his game inside out.

The Johannesburg-born, but England-raised batsman began his Test career romantically with a century at Lord's, his home ground, against New Zealand in 2004, and continued to score heavily all summer.

He's had such a lot of success and deservedly so because he's played beautifully in his first year of Test cricket.

But there's bound to be a dip somewhere because only Bradman has managed to go on scoring runs without loss of form.

I think Strauss does have a problem if it swings and Brett Lee worries him when he bowls just outside off stump and swings it in with the new ball.

Both our openers, who are high-scoring batsmen with good records, particularly Strauss over the past year, will find that the first hour will be quite searching and holds the key to whether or not they make runs.

We haven't seen yet how Strauss deals with failure because he hasn't had any, so I reserve judgement on how mentally tough he is.