Strauss to play for Somerset against India

Andrew Strauss will play for Somerset against the Indian tourists next month in preparation for England's Test series after the ECB came to an agreement to ensure the captain has adequate opportunity to find form.

With Strauss not part of England's one-day plans any more he will return to county duty with Middlesex. However, they have just one Championship match, against Gloucestershire at Uxbridge, in the next three weeks and Strauss will play that along with one CB40 match. It was felt that only playing Middlesex's fixtures would have left him short of time in the middle before a four-Test series.

Strauss has been short of form during the Sri Lanka series with 26 runs in four innings and fell three times to Chanaka Welegedara, the left-arm seamer, to begin debates about a potential weakness, especially as India will have Zaheer Khan in their attack. He stressed the added value of time in the middle over simple net practice in his search for form.

"Any time I get the opportunity to play against the touring side prior to the series starting I take because it gives me an opportunity to see their bowlers and more than anything it's about getting some cricket," said Strauss. "I'll be doing a lot of work in the nets over the next few weeks but you can't replicate what happens in a match in the nets. This gives me another opportunity to hopefully have another innings before the npower Test series starts."

"We were very sensitive to Somerset's feelings on this and if at any stage we felt they weren't comfortable with the idea then it would have been a non-starter," he added. "But they were very keen and we're very grateful for them to give me the opportunity to play some cricket before the first npowerTest match and hopefully I can spend a bit of time with their young cricketers at the same time."

Andy Flower, the England team director, was delighted with the arrangement with Somerset. "It's a good indication of how the counties can work together," he told Sky Sports. "We knew it was a challenge about how much cricket he will get before the Test series. We were looking for opportunities for him to play. We approached Somerset and they've been wholly positive."

"We are very grateful to Somerset's Director of Cricket Brian Rose and Middlesex's Managing Director of Cricket, Angus Fraser, for their co-operation in this matter and believe it will provide Andrew with valuable preparation in the longer form of the game ahead of the forthcoming npower Test series against India," added ECB Managing Director Hugh Morris.

The match against the Indians, which is their only warm-up game before the first Test at Lord's, takes place from July 15-17 at Taunton and could mean a reuniting of Strauss with his former England opening partner Marcus Trescothick.