Strauss ready to face favourite foes

Andrew Strauss could not have timed his return to the ascendancy any better. Barely six months ago, his international future was in doubt following his axing for England's tour of Sri Lanka, and even when he was recalled for the New Zealand series in March, it wasn't until his gritty 177 in the final innings at Napier that he finally re-established his England credentials. Now however, on the eve of his 50th Test cap, he is right back where he started. Confident and settled at the top of the order, and ready to live up to the colossal reputation that he forged on his very first England tour four winters ago.

Strauss's tour of South Africa in 2004-05 was an unmitigated triumph. Not only did he score 656 runs in the five-Test series - the most overseas by an Englishman since Dennis Amiss in the Caribbean in 1973-74 - he top-scored in six of England's first seven innings of the tour, and scored three centuries and an unbeaten 94 to secure a memorable 2-1 series win.

Over the weekend, Strauss reacquainted himself with the South African challenge by turning out for Middlesex in their final warm-up match at Uxbridge. He made a composed 29 before gloving Morne Morkel's sixth delivery down the leg-side to be caught by Mark Boucher, but afterwards he insisted that the experience had been hugely beneficial.

"I was keen to play because there were a lot more benefits than possible negatives," said Strauss. "By the looks of things they've started the tour well, most of their batsmen have got runs and their bowlers got a run-out, but from my point of view it was fantastic to have an opportunity to face them before the Test series, and start formulating gameplans for individual bowlers."

The experience gave Strauss's memory-banks a pleasant nudge as well, although he was keen not to hark back too fondly on his previous duels with South Africa's bowlers. "I started remembering how [Makhaya] Ntini bowled at me previously, and Steyn to a certain extent, so you do have memories, but it can be unhelpful to look back too much. I've changed as a batsman, and they've changed as bowlers, so you've got take them at face value a little bit.

"I think I'm more rounded as a player," said Strauss. "In the last series I was in great form, but I looked back on the footage recently, and thought that, technically, I looked awful. Technique is not the be-all and end-all by any stretch, but I'm more experienced now, I've had to contend with more things [in my career], and I'm keener now if I'm in form to make the most of it."

South Africa's pacemen will be equally keen to make sure his stays in the middle are as short as possible. Strauss, however, believes that the quicker they come, the faster they go, and having had a taster at Uxbridge, he's relishing the chance to put bat on ball at Lord's.

"Both Steyn and Morkel were slippery, there's no doubt about it, but that's what we expect," said Strauss. "More pace on the ball provides more opportunities as well, because you need less of a bat on it for it to go to the boundary. If they bowl well it's going to be hard work, but if they are slightly off line, there may well be more opportunities to score than against, say, the New Zealand bowlers who were very disciplined without so much pace.

"Steyn's got a pretty slippery bouncer, so I'm sure he'll bowl a few of those in the coming weeks, but they are very different types of bowlers, and it's important not to leave out Ntini, who's a decent bowler in his own right. But it's easy to get too focussed on the pace aspect, more crucial is how good a bowler are they. That's what we'll find out in next few days and weeks."

It promises to be a high-octane contest, and Strauss was clearly eager to get stuck into the series, especially after such a long-drawn-out battle against the unglamorous New Zealanders. "That series tested us in a very different way," he said. "That attritional type of cricket is harder to play in many ways, because you're fighting with yourself a lot of the time. Against South Africa you're pitting yourself against the opposition a lot more, they are trying to bowl you out, you're trying to not give an inch in your own right, and it's all there, clear in front of you, what you have to do.

"It's about getting in the right frame of mind to do that," said Strauss. "We need to be aware of the type of cricket we need to play, and how they are going to play against us. Every international side has its different character traits, and South Africa play positive and aggressive, attacking cricket. A lot of guys haven't played them before, but we've got quite a lot of experience in the dressing-room, and we've got to get ourselves mentally attuned."

Strauss was born in Johannesburg, but left South Africa as a child and has few memories of life on the Highveld. He did not see his background as being a major talking-point for the series, especially given the higher profile of one of his team-mates. "It's a very important series, and one I'm switched on for, simply because they are a good side," said Strauss. "I've not got any special affinity with South Africa because I was born there. Besides, I think they are more sidetracked by Mr Pietersen. I've slipped under the radar."