Strauss Sends West Indies a Warning By Flaying Leicestershire for Blistering 150
The England captain continues his prolific form with the bat as Middlesex pile on the pain for Leicestershire
In what could be his solitary championship match of the summer Andrew Strauss, the England captain, scored 150 and dominated a second-wicket stand of 244 with the Australian batting sensation Phillip Hughes. The pitch was flat and the Leicestershire bowling worse than ordinary but Strauss was clearly delighted to continue the prolific form he had shown in India and the West Indies in the course of the winter.
"It's great to get some runs early in the season and go into the Test in decent nick," he said, looking forward to next week's match against West Indies at Lord's. "It was a flat wicket. But it was good to come back to England and hit the ground running. It's not going to count for a huge amount come the first day of a Test match but it's certainly good to start a Test feeling happy about your game."
Strauss reached his century from just 112 deliveries and was close to achieving it before lunch. He faced the last over before the interval on 94 but pushed the first ball for a single and Hughes played out the remaining five balls. "I've got to admit it did get into my mind. I was quite thankful that Phil played out that over because I might have done something rash."
Hughes, who has made a dashing start to the season with scores of 118, 65 not out and 74, failed to reach three figures in two sessions as he came to terms with the slow pace of the pitch. He was 99 not out at tea and then rain washed out play for the rest of the day.
But Strauss denied he was trying to win a personal duel with his future Ashes rival. "I think Ashes subplots are overblown. The Ashes are quite a long way away. We need to focus on winning the coming series and gaining revenge for what happened in the West Indies. But it was interesting to bat with Phil. He's obviously got the ability to score runs. He's got a very different technique but he knows how to score runs. He knows his game pretty well. I'd never seen him bat before so it was interesting to see his strengths and weaknesses."
Strauss was almost out when, on 60, he drove Carl Crowe just over mid-off. But otherwise it was a dominating batting display. In all, he faced just 167 balls and hit 22 fours and a six – striking Crowe over mid-on and into the trees at this delightful ground.
Hughes once again rejected the conventional, stepping away to the leg-side to thrash straight deliveries through the off-side. He is a major talent, but on this day Strauss was better.
"It's great to get some runs early in the season and go into the Test in decent nick," he said, looking forward to next week's match against West Indies at Lord's. "It was a flat wicket. But it was good to come back to England and hit the ground running. It's not going to count for a huge amount come the first day of a Test match but it's certainly good to start a Test feeling happy about your game."
Strauss reached his century from just 112 deliveries and was close to achieving it before lunch. He faced the last over before the interval on 94 but pushed the first ball for a single and Hughes played out the remaining five balls. "I've got to admit it did get into my mind. I was quite thankful that Phil played out that over because I might have done something rash."
Hughes, who has made a dashing start to the season with scores of 118, 65 not out and 74, failed to reach three figures in two sessions as he came to terms with the slow pace of the pitch. He was 99 not out at tea and then rain washed out play for the rest of the day.
But Strauss denied he was trying to win a personal duel with his future Ashes rival. "I think Ashes subplots are overblown. The Ashes are quite a long way away. We need to focus on winning the coming series and gaining revenge for what happened in the West Indies. But it was interesting to bat with Phil. He's obviously got the ability to score runs. He's got a very different technique but he knows how to score runs. He knows his game pretty well. I'd never seen him bat before so it was interesting to see his strengths and weaknesses."
Strauss was almost out when, on 60, he drove Carl Crowe just over mid-off. But otherwise it was a dominating batting display. In all, he faced just 167 balls and hit 22 fours and a six – striking Crowe over mid-on and into the trees at this delightful ground.
Hughes once again rejected the conventional, stepping away to the leg-side to thrash straight deliveries through the off-side. He is a major talent, but on this day Strauss was better.
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