One day, Andrew, all this will be yours

Andrew Strauss has been named as England captain only for the four-Test series in the West Indies. I imagine the reason why he hasn't been given the job permanently is because England are still unsure about their selection policy for one-day internationals.

Strauss has not played ODIs since the 2007 World Cup (ie, not at all under Peter Moores), which counted against him when Michael Vaughan stood down as the selectors wanted one unified captain. Maybe with Moores gone, Strauss's ODI career can be reborn. Or perhaps they will give that captaincy back temporarily to Paul Collingwood. Who knows?

It is a fallacy to imagine that Strauss is not a natural one-day player, though. Not when Alastair Cook is in the ODI squad. Strauss's one-day average for England is 32, which is higher than that of Gower, Shah, Stewart, Gatting or Hussain, to name a few. Collingwood, who proportionately has had twice as many not-outs as Strauss to beef up his figures, averages only 34.

I saw Strauss make a tremendous 163 off 130 balls for Middlesex against Surrey this year in the Friends Provident Trophy. He can pace an innings well and has the technique to stay in when the ball is nipping around early, although I think his best position is at No 3 rather than opening. He should be included in the one-day tour party for the Caribbean and asked to lead both sides.

Comments

[DeloreanGray]

To add a Caveat to that 163, it was against a bowling attack containing a woeful Pedro Collins and Chris Lewis, who's creaking could be heard all the way from the back of the John Major Bar in the OCS stand!

[Johnmc]

Peter - we've come to regard South Africa as Aussies do Tasmania. Not really part of the country but quite useful for picking up the odd player or two.

As for Strauss and the one-day thing, Duncan Fletcher made the point when the captaincy came up in the summer that he could easily slip back in at four splitting up the big hitters KP and Freddie. I don't see why it should be such an issue anyway. A split captaincy could actually be advantageous given the amount of cricket that is due to played. Stuff about previous times it had been tried being failures is just nonsense. The England one-day side has been an inconsistent mess since the 1991 (or was it 92) World Cup. The majority of the time that has been under a sole captain. It could be argued that this has held England back as at various times Atherton, Hussain and Vaughan simply didn't perform for the one-day side as they did in the longer version of the game. Under Collingwood we had a couple of notable successes as well as some dodgy results. Under Hollioake we won a major tournament in Sharjah, as impressive a win as any in England's one-day history. Surely the only sensible option is to pick the best man to captain the Test team, the best man to captain the one-day team and if they happen to coincide, great. If not, just get on with it

[Suave]

Patrick,

I seem to recall that prior to the 2005 ashes, he had a pretty decent flay of the aussies in the ODI's, but I can't be bothered to check.

I'd welcome him back to the ODI side, if it means that Cooky never gets a look in again.

[Jmd]

I saw that big century in the FP too. I remember a lot of pies from the likes of Chris Lewis and James Benning and a very short leg-side boundary.

I think that the likelihood is he will lead the ODI team in the Caribbean, but his long-term future in that form of the game will be a matter for the new coach to decide. They will feel much more comfortable presenting the new coach with him as Test captain because he is an established player in that format and there are almost no other options.

[Peter McGuinness]

Any thoughts of making an Englishman captain? Pardon my radical mindset...

[Som]

Strauss taking over as ODI captain, despite the fact that he is not considered good enough to find a place in the playing XI, would only suggest ECB desperation. If he has not played ODI since 2007 World Cup, suddenly what makes him good enough straightway for the skipper's job? Only Lee Germon, who debuted in ODIs as the skipper, had a similar luck, I must say.