Strauss fresh for Test return

	Andrew Strauss: in action for Northern Districts © Getty Images

England's cricketers will have an interested spectator in the crowd when they launch their one-day series against New Zealand at Wellington on Saturday. Andrew Strauss will be watching from the stands ahead of his next outing for Northern Districts at the Basin Reserve on Sunday, for whom he has been playing since January, in a bid to recapture the form that made him an integral part of England's all-conquering team of 2004-05.

Strauss was omitted from the touring sides that visited Sri Lanka prior to Christmas, but England's failures in the Test series propelled him straight back into the squad. He is now expected to feature in the first Test at Hamilton, which begins on March 5, and if he does, he will go into the match with several points to prove. "I have to prove to people that I am the player of 2004-05 and not the player of 2006-07," Strauss told the Press Association. "In my mind I am very clear on that."

Strauss failed to register a century in his last 25 Test innings, and endured a particularly disappointing run of form on the Ashes tour last winter. It was a far cry from the bang with which he arrived on the international scene - he made a century on debut against New Zealand, then notched up nine more in his first 30 Tests - but Strauss was adamant that his best days were not behind him. "There is no reason why I cannot repeat or exceed what I did in the past," he said, "but I have to prove to others that that is the case - I have to prove it to my team-mates and to the selectors."

Strauss is relishing the opportunity for a fresh start with England, and admitted that the pressure to perform last year grew with every new failure. "In my last few Tests I was motivated by the fear of being dropped and that is not a great mindset to be in," he said. "As a result I wasn't playing the sort of cricket I wanted to. I knew my place was vulnerable because I hadn't scored enough runs over the summer and in Australia. By doing that you give people an opportunity to knock on the door.

"Nobody likes being dropped and it was an unpleasant couple of days after I was told, and in many ways it was even harder watching the Test match take place from a distance," he said. "But you realise that the world carries on and life does go on. An extended break from the game helped me get myself in order mentally. It helped me put things in to perspective."

Strauss turns 31 in March, but he doesn't feel he is in the autumn of his career just yet. "There is no reason why my best years as an England player aren't ahead of me, not behind me - 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. I am more experienced than I was. The key is to go out and play the way I know I can play."