Ed Smith

Strauss rules

The England Test captain on leadership, in cricket and politics

Andrew Strauss is arguably the most successful England captain of the modern era. He shares with Mike Brearley the distinction of having beaten Australia at home and away, and this year he became the first captain to take England to the top of the official world Test rankings. Yet, unlike Brearley, Strauss is not talked about with hushed awe. His achievements are acknowledged but not mythologised, and when we meet for lunch at a busy pub in the Chilterns, no one pesters him for an autograph. You sense that not becoming a superstar is one of Strauss’s ambitions and, as usual, he has got what he wanted.

Strauss has never quite joined cricket’s aristocracy. Even this summer, as England closed in on the No. 1 ranking, Sir Ian Botham opted for prolonged silence in the commentary box when Strauss bowled the part-timer Jonathan Trott at Sachin Tendulkar, as though it was too stupid even to merit analysis. Does Strauss care? ‘I didn’t know about that episode, but thanks for telling me!’ he laughs. ‘I really don’t listen. I don’t like being part of the pat-your-back brigade of “Weren’t you brilliant and wasn’t I brilliant and don’t we know more than anyone else?” I’m quite happy to keep my distance from the past players.’

Perhaps cricket’s big egos haven’t quite caught up with Strauss’s achievements. He is the master of the late run. Owais Shah was a fixture in the Middlesex team when he was 17; Strauss only became an automatic pick in his early 20s. He was the last of his year group to be picked by England, aged 27, but he has made a bigger contribution than more heralded contemporaries. The trajectory of his captaincy followed a similar path: his peers Vaughan, Flintoff and Pietersen were all given the nod before he was allowed a proper go.

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