Andrew Strauss retires from all forms of cricket

Andrew Strauss has today announced he has stepped down as England cricket captain, and announced his retirement from all forms of cricket.

The 35-year-old, who captained England in 50 of his 100 test matches said: “For me the driver to it all quite frankly was my form with the bat. In truth, I haven’t batted well enough for a long time now. I think I have run my race.”

Strauss, ninth on the all time scorers list, denied the decision was made because of the controversy surrounding Kevin Pietersen’s axing from the team.

David Collier, chief executive of the ECB, paid tribute to Strauss, saying: “He has shown tremendous integrity, dedication and commitment both on and off the field and under his leadership the side has grown immeasurably and reached new levels of professionalism.”
One-day captain Alistair Cook will take over from Strauss as Test match captain, and the 27-year-old’s first game as captain will be in November when England take on India.

Dean Mears, Sports Editor