Anticipating Zaheer Khan v Andrew Strauss

England's batsmen have piling on the runs over the last 18 months in Tests, but two key members of their top order have not been at their best during this period. Kevin Pietersen's loss of form and his problems with left-arm spin (and other kinds of bowling) were examined last week; this time, the focus is on England's captain and his battles against left-arm fast bowling.

In the Lord's Test against Sri Lanka, Strauss was dismissed lbw twice by Chanaka Welegedara, taking his overall Test dismissals against left-arm fast bowling to 22. Welegedara will obviously look to target him again in the third Test in Southampton, but looking further ahead, this apparent weakness will also excite Zaheer Khan. India will play four Tests in England later this summer, and Zaheer has been India's go-to man over the last couple of years, especially in overseas Tests.

Strauss, on the other hand, has had a fairly ordinary run lately, scoring only one century in his last 24 innings against all sides excluding Bangladesh, and averaging less than 30. In these 15 Tests, three England batsmen have averaged more than 60, and four more - including Pietersen and Paul Collingwood - have higher averages than Strauss. A strong performance in the third Test will go a long way towards silencing his critics and boosting his confidence.

Strauss has had a few problems against good left-arm fast bowling, but over the last 18 months these seem to have been exacerbated to such an extent that it is clearly his greatest weakness. In fact, his overall average during this period has fallen only because of his weakness against this type of attack: against all other bowling, he averages a highly acceptable 44.87, but against left-arm pace it drops to a dismal 12.40. Mohammad Amir has dismissed him four times during this period, while Welegedara, Wahab Riaz, Wayne Parnell and Doug Bollinger have all had some success against him. The only such bowler Strauss has handled comfortably during this period is Mitchell Johnson, against whom he has scored 65 runs for one dismissal.

Contrast this with his stats against left-arm pace before December 2009. In 67 Tests during that period, Strauss fell only 12 times to left-arm pace, and his average didn't suggest he had a particular weakness against them. Recently, though, the stats are completely different.

Among left-arm fast bowlers, Amir and Zaheer have been the biggest threats to Strauss. Amir nailed his man four times in four Tests, conceding fewer than 10 runs per wicket, while Zaheer's strike rate is also one dismissal per Test. Both bowlers have also kept Strauss on a tight leash: he has barely managed to score at two runs per over against them. Four bowlers have dismissed Strauss more than five times, but they've also played more often against him.

Strauss's best year against left-arm pace was 2009, when his average against them was a stunning 164. That, though, was largely thanks to Johnson's waywardness in the Ashes that season - in 175 balls, he leaked 116 runs to Strauss and dismissed him only once.

On the other hand, Zaheer has got better with time against left-hand batsmen. In the first six years of his international career, there was little to separate his stats against left- and right-handers. (The numbers below exclude Zaheer's first four Tests, since ESPNcricinfo's ball-by-ball data wasn't available then.)

When he first started playing Test cricket, Zaheer seldom swung the ball back into the right-hander (or away from the left-hander). Over time he has developed and mastered this skill, and his ability to move it both ways from a length around off stump has brought him rich rewards. Since 2007, his average against left-handers has dropped to less than 25, and he has continually improved from there, dismissing more left-hand batsmen than right-hand ones over the last three years. Since the beginning of 2010 he has taken 28 left-handers' wickets at a fantastic average of 14.46, which is less than half his average against right-handers. During this period he has dismissed Graeme Smith four times, and Imrul Kayes, Johnson, Tim McIntosh and Tamim Iqbal three times each.

The table below shows Zaheer has had plenty of success against top-order left-hand batsmen, but what's even more interesting is the manner in which he has gradually improved his stats against these players. He has dismissed Matthew Hayden seven times, but three of those dismissals came in the last series they played each other in, in 2008-09 - Hayden's average against Zaheer in that series was 24.33.

Kumar Sangakkara averaged 59 in his first series against Zaheer, in 2001, but in the last two series - which have both been played in the last three years - he was dismissed five times by Zaheer, and averaged 20.60. Similarly, Graeme Smith averaged 57.50 in his first two series against Zaheer (115 runs, two dismissals), but in his last two series the average against Zaheer has dropped to 15.75 (63 runs, four dismissals).

The last time Zaheer toured England, in 2007, he dismissed Strauss four times in the Tests, at an average of 17.25 runs per dismissal. The left-hand opener in Sri Lanka's team is far more inexperienced, but perhaps Strauss could have a word with Tharanga Paranavitana, who has been technically sound and composed in the Tests so far in England. He has also tackled Zaheer better than most left-handers in recent times - in the series in India in 2009-10, Paranavitana faced 123 deliveries from Zaheer, scored 76 runs, and wasn't dismissed even once. Strauss' opening partner, Alastair Cook, has been in the form of his life recently, and hasn't done badly against Zaheer either, scoring 117 runs at more than four per over, though Zaheer has dismissed him three times.