Northern Life Stands Strauss in Good Stead

From England captain to discard, Andrew Strauss has experienced the highs and lows of national service in the past year or so. The opener, though, is determined to once again be a vital cog in the Test team. "I am only 30 and I have at least another five or six years of good batting ahead of me," he said. "A lot of good players score a lot of runs after their 30th birthday. Graham Gooch is a good example."

Until last summer Strauss was seemingly England's rock-solid Test opener with a central contract, but he was then dropped for the losing Sri Lanka tour. So he signed up for the New Zealand state team Northern Districts, anticipating watching the Tests from the stands, and rediscovering some form. Then England came calling again, and Strauss will be linking up with the Test squad in a fortnight. "I was intending to play the rest of the season with Northerns and then hit the ground running with Middlesex," he said. "It is reassuring that they came back to me quickly after what happened in Sri Lanka, and I would like to think I can contribute. 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."

Strauss identifies last winter's Ashes tour as the tipping point. The previous summer, in Michael Vaughan's absence, he had captained England to a series victory over Pakistan yet the selectors turned to Andrew Flintoff to lead the team to Australia. Strauss' form suffered and he reached 50 once in 10 Test innings.

"If you read the papers, there would be 10 different reasons why I lost form," Strauss said. "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, there will be times when things don't go your way.

"And when I didn't score runs against the West Indies at the start of last summer I was suddenly playing for my place. 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 with Northerns but he feels the change of environment has done him good and he can recapture the form which saw him score seven tons in his first 19 Tests. "The most important thing for me right now is that I feel really fresh and hungry," he said

The England team were delayed at Christchurch airport yesterday and missed the chance to practice in Wellington, before today's one-day international. A female passenger was reported to have attacked both pilots with a knife on a light aircraft flying from Blenheim and though she was overpowered and the plane landed safely, fears of an explosive device on board sparked a major incident at the airport, delaying England's flight by three hours.