Century not enough for serene Strauss

Andrew Strauss admitted that he was still “seething” after having given his wicket away towards the end of the first day’s play, reports Anand Vasu.

Andrew Strauss admitted that he was still “seething” after having given his wicket away towards the end of the first day’s play. Having done all the hard work, Strauss fell on 123, and his effort showed that there were runs to be had with minimum threat if a batsman applied himself.

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“It was pretty hard to begin with, the first 30 minutes or so. We had to get out of net practice mode and back into Test match mode. Once I got in, though, on such a flat wicket it was a case of concentrating hard,” said Strauss.

As one of the England players who announced very early on that he would tour India if security advisors allowed it, Strauss said he understood just how important it was for cricket to resume as soon as possible.

“This is an important Test match for the game of cricket. We came back and showed that the game of cricket will continue,” said the left-handed batsman who also got to 4000 Test runs in the course of his knock.

“I did not have a feeling of mental anguish and in the few days leading up to the Test it was good to focus just on the cricket. I was one of the first guys to be in favour of coming over.

“To get a hundred is very special but I do not want to overplay my role. The first hour was a case of getting a feel of the pace of the pitch and adapting to the conditions. If it is a flat wicket, and you get in and cannot go on to score a hundred, you’ll struggle as a team.”

Strauss conceded that 229 for 5 at close wasn’t a particularly good situation to be in.

“I was really comfortable and wanted to go big. But there were some good bowling there. Zaheer Khan was excellent with reverse swing as was Ishant Sharma. We need to get to 350-400 to put pressure on the Indians.”