Strauss Composed As He Prepares for Return to Test Team

Waiting to bump into a few of his old England team-mates when they finally arrived in Wellington today was Andrew Strauss, until last summer the team's seemingly rock-solid Test opener but who was given a central contract and then dropped for the Sri Lanka tour before Christmas. Strauss signed up for New Zealand state team Northern Districts, anticipating watching the Tests from the stands and rediscovering some comforting form ahead of his summer with Middlesex. Instead, England came calling again after the batting failures in Sri Lanka and Strauss will be linking up with the Test squad in a fortnight.

He concedes he was surprised when the selectors called. "Yes, I was slightly. I was intending to play the rest of the season with Northerns and then hit the ground running with Middlesex. It is reassuring that they came back to me quickly after what happened in Sri Lanka and I would like to think that I can contribute and help the side get back to winning ways.

"I did feel I may have to go back to county cricket to force my way back in. The break made me think about things logically and there is no reason why my best years as an England player are not ahead of me. I am only 30 and I have at least another five or six years of good batting ahead of me. A lot of good players score a lot of runs after their 30th birthday. Graham Gooch is a good example."

An automatic choice for three years since his debut in 2004, Strauss identifies last winter's Ashes tour as the tipping point in his career. The previous summer, in Michael Vaughan's absence, he had captained England to a good series victory over Pakistan, yet the selectors turned to Andrew Flintoff to lead the team to Australia that winter.

Strauss has never - will never - use that as an excuse, but he was entitled to feel betrayed by the decision. His form suffered miserably and he reached 50 only once in 10 Test innings against Australia.

"If you read the papers there would be 10 different reasons why I lost form, and all of them may have had a slight influence. But at the same time you have to appreciate that, in Test cricket against the best bowlers in the world, there will be times when things don't go your way.

"I think the Ashes series knocked the stuffing out of a few players. It was tough and we felt we let ourselves down. And when I didn't score runs against the West Indies at the start of last summer, I was suddenly playing for my place, which is not great. It was a tough summer, but during these periods you do find out quite a bit about yourself. More than if you are scoring hundreds every week."

The runs have hardly flowed for Strauss with Northerns, but he has joined them in the middle of their one-day program. Despite that, he feels the change of environment has done him good and he can recapture the sort of form which saw him score seven centuries in his first 19 Tests, including two in the Ashes triumph of 2005.

"The most important thing for me right now is that I feel really fresh and hungry. I feel as enthusiastic as I did back in 2004 when I made my debut. I have been working hard in the gym and I have no mental baggage. Maybe the break has made me appreciate playing for England a little bit more again. Mentally everything is right."