Super Strauss puts England in charge
George Binoy
25-Feb-2013
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As if Test cricket was not already the most exacting test of temperament that sport can offer, as the only one that is spread out over five days, the horrifying events in Mumbai only a fortnight ago have made this first Test even more demanding: and in these circumstances it is no surprise that the coolest and calmest head has belonged to the England opening batsman Andrew Strauss, writes Scyld Berry in the Sunday Telegraph.
Strauss, since September, has had no match-practice apart from three quick innings in Antigua but, as he said after his century, a fresh mind was more than adequate compensation. The pitch has been essentially slow, except on the few occasions the ball has spat (at Ian Bell and Graeme Swann), and Strauss was able to learn how to walk again, before running, by quietly picking up his first 31 runs of the match on the legside.
They must be glad they came. A famous, unexpected victory is within their compass. And instead of the names of the administrators Reg Dickason, Sean Morris or Lalit Modi slipping from everyone's lips, we are talking of Andrew Strauss and Paul Collingwood. Cricketers. This is progress, writes Vic Marks in the Observer.
It has been like the old days, the ones he must have feared would never return. Andrew Strauss chaperoned England yesterday to within sight of a historic, wholly unexpected victory, writes Stephen Brenkley in the Independent on Sunday.
Strauss did nothing that could remotely be conceived as flash. It was the innings of a fastidious banker (and there are not many of those to the pound these days), determined to ensure that all the figures balanced precisely, taking no risks, steering clear of fancy-dan hedge funds.
If Duncan Fletcher has been watching on his television in Perth, where he is helping South Africa prepare to meet Australia, he must have been delighted with what he has seen from Andrew Strauss, writes Simon Wilde in the Sunday Times.
Strauss was one of the players Fletcher worked most closely with in his time as England coach and had he still been with the team now, Fletcher would have implored the left-handed Strauss to sweep the Indian spinners time and again. But Fletcher did not need to be here. Because Strauss knew. And he has executed his strokes with such unwavering skill and concentration that he has given England a terrific chance of a wholly unexpected win in this first Test.
George Binoy is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo