Primary Club Juniors president leads England to victory

Andrew Strauss secures Pakistan Test series win

Andrew Strauss, the president of the Primary Club Juniors, has led England to a Test series win over Pakistan.

Strauss, who was appointed captain at the start of July, took over from Andrew Flintoff after the allrounder suffered an ankle injury that put him out of action for the summer.

In charge of both England’s one-day and Test teams, Strauss had a tough start to the job, with England’s one-day team losing the NatWest one-day series against Sri Lanka 5-0. But he showed his mettle as soon as the Tests against Pakistan. In a drawn first Test at Lord’s, a rejuvenated England posted 528 and 296-8 declared before they ran out of time to bowl Pakistan out in the second innings. Strauss himself contributed a second-innings century.

But it was at Old Trafford that Strauss really came into his own. His captaincy in the field was much praised after England’s bowlers – in particular Steve Harmison and Monty Panesar – put in an incredible performance to beat Pakistan by the large margin of an innings and 120 runs. At Headingley Strauss led from the front with a second-innings 116 that helped the team turn around a game that had been sliding in Pakistan’s favour, and in the final, controversial Test at The Oval he had to deal with an unusual set of circumstances when a dispute between the umpires and the Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq resulted in the game being forfeited to England. Now everyone's thoughts are turning to a winter in Australia.

"We've always said that on our day we can beat any side in the world," Strauss said. We've got match-winning players and with a bit of confidence in our ranks there's no reason why we can't do well but we will have to play our best," commented Andrew Strauss, President, Primary Club Juniors .