Latest news with #AndrewStrauss
Times
3 days ago
- Sport
- Times
Funky fields and ‘Bazball' batting — 2005 Ashes was trailblazing series
It was a series ahead of its time. 'It definitely felt like in that Test series we were playing a different form of Test cricket to anything that had been played previously, particularly in the aggressiveness of some of the batting,' Andrew Strauss, England's opener in the 2005 Ashes, says. He is right. It was not quite Bazball, which peaked for England at 5.50 runs an over in their Pakistan series in 2022, but England's run rate of 3.87 in that Ashes series is their 12th-fastest ever (the top nine are all in the Bazball era) — a series that they won, remember, against an attack of Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne and Brett Lee, with the fourth bowler (either Mike Kasprowicz or Jason Gillespie) mercilessly targeted, even though they were two very fine operators. This was a series, among many other unforgettable moments of greatness, in which Kevin Pietersen was hitting the great McGrath back over his head on debut in the first Test at Lord's and smashing rather than defending his way to a draw with 158 in the fifth Test at the Oval. England also scored 407 all out (at a run rate of 5.13) on the first day of the second Test at Edgbaston after being put in by Ricky Ponting. Whether or not it remains the greatest series of all time is a matter of opinion, but it certainly had an impact on the game. Take the bowling by right-armers from round the wicket to left-handers. It had been done before, of course, with England's Craig White having had some success against Brian Lara, and there had been some images floating around of Pakistan's Shoaib Akhtar really troubling Adam Gilchrist with that tactic at the end of a spell during the previous winter. But here was Andrew Flintoff neutering Gilchrist, one of Australia's greatest weapons, with that angle of attack. The left-hander, who changed the role of the wicketkeeper-batsman for ever, averaged only 22 in that series, without even as much as a half-century, dismissed four times by Flintoff, all from round the wicket. England's dressing room during the 2001 Ashes had a whiteboard detailing the Australia batsmen's weaknesses and, as a result, plans to dismiss them. Next to Gilchrist's name there was nothing but a question mark. It has been said that the 2005 plan came about by accident when Flintoff had to move to round the wicket because of a dodgy foothole in a one-day international at Lord's earlier that summer. Whatever the genesis, as Simon Jones later revealed in his autobiography, by the time of the first Test, the whiteboard read: 'Go around the wicket and cramp him for room.' It was no surprise that England had come up with a plan of some sort because the head coach, Duncan Fletcher, was a stickler for the importance of angles in both batting and bowling. In exasperation he once asked Marcus Trescothick: 'Did you do geometry in school?' when Strauss's opening partner was unable to fathom the gist of Fletcher's thinking, with the coach playfully slipping a couple of protractors under Trescothick's door while on tour in Sri Lanka. Before the 2005 series Fletcher had warned Strauss about the danger of the angles he was creating when playing Warne's leg spin. Strauss wanted to move across his stumps and play everything to the leg side with the spin, but Fletcher suggested, if the ball was short enough, that Strauss stay leg-side of it and punch it with a straight bat through cover. 'I'd just got a hundred against [Stuart] MacGill [another Australian leg spinner] six months before and I remember thinking, 'I think I'm OK here, mate,' ' Strauss says. But then in the second Test at Edgbaston, Strauss was spectacularly bowled around his legs when trying to pad up to Warne. He changed his mind about Fletcher's advice and turned to the Merlyn spin-bowling machine for hours of practice. 'Warne didn't get me out at Lord's but I did think, 'These angles are tricky for me,' ' he says. 'At Edgbaston it became increasingly obvious that I had to play it differently. Fletch was very counter-intuitive in that sense of looking to score off the back foot through the off side rather than looking to hit everything leg side. That was Fletch's genius. He was the only coach I think who really told me things I'd never really considered in the game of cricket before. 'It was like learning a different language but it certainly did help me. We had that Merlyn bowling machine and I remember facing thousands of balls off that. But it's one thing doing it against the Merlyn machine and another doing it against Shane Warne in the middle of an Ashes Test match.' Playing against the spin, as long as the length is right — either short enough or full enough — has now become an accepted coaching tip at the top of the game, with Rahul Dravid's famous email to Pietersen when the England batsman was struggling so badly against left-arm spin containing just that advice. Mind you, those problems of Pietersen's were mainly brought about by the introduction of the Decision Review System, which was not in place in 2005, and caused players to think about playing finger spin very differently, representing a huge change in the game from that time. 'It didn't affect me quite as much as some others,' Strauss says. 'I was always trying to get my bat in front of my pad anyway. Back in the day people used to squeeze the ball between bat and pad, but you couldn't play like that any more.' The round-the-wicket to left-handers theory was much more of a problem for Strauss, as South Africa's Morne Morkel later exploited it remorselessly. Gilchrist's weakness would undoubtedly have been acted upon more quickly these days. England may now be reining in the size of their analysis team a little but there is still a whole heap of data out there for teams to use. Back then there was very little. 'Obviously we'd worked out that Gilchrist really struggled with that angle,' Strauss says. 'What we didn't have at that stage was the deep statistical analysis to back up our hunches. In the latter stages of my career it became obvious that was an angle that was hard to contend with. In those days we were very much using Fletch's eye, where technical weaknesses might occur. 'Increasingly these days you will find out a player's weakness very quickly in a way that probably took longer back in those days. I was a good example. You come into Test cricket, you have a good run and then after a year or so people start working you out. That time is definitely shortened now. To a certain degree everyone knows everyone anyway because of franchise cricket, but there's fewer places to hide these days.' As Mark Garaway, England's analyst from the following winter onwards, tells me, we now know that Gilchrist was a right-eyed-dominant left-handed batsman, and so the angle from Flintoff round the wicket and reverse-swinging the ball away meant the ball was constantly going into the line of his less preferred left eye. The solution would have been to close off even more in his stance. Nowadays bowling round the wicket to left-handers for right-arm bowlers is almost de rigueur, but as David Warner consistently showed in his horror times against Stuart Broad, it does not mean that batsmen can counter it successfully. That 2005 Ashes was the first time in living memory for most of us that Australia were really rattled by an England team, particularly by the reverse-swing from Flintoff and Jones. Both of them achieved that reverse-swing in both directions, away and into the batsmen, which was quite a new phenomenon after the years of booming in-swingers from the likes of Waqar Younis (there were no wobble-seam balls yet), but they also bowled a good length doing it, rather than just the toe-crushing yorkers of yore. Australia just could not generate that reverse-swing in that series, and so they set about pinching the Australian bowling coach Troy Cooley back after that series. When they played England for the first time thereafter, Cooley said to the Australian players: 'Boys, today, eyes in the middle, no looking elsewhere. Just worry about us.' As Gilchrist later recalled in his autobiography, 'It was like a boxing glove came out and smacked me in the head and said, 'You idiot. That's what you were doing for the best part of three months in England — worrying about what the opponent is going to do.' ' The field placings by the captain, Michael Vaughan, contributed to this too. There are some funky fields these days, but Vaughan startled Australia with some of his arrangements, placing a short extra cover at Edgbaston for Matthew Hayden, who immediately hit one there to Strauss, and constantly playing on Hayden's ego that thrived on the boom of a straight drive by placing a catcher so straight that he was almost on the cut strip. Much was made of Pat Cummins's Bazball-spooked immediate use of sweepers at Edgbaston in the first Test of 2023, but it was the smart use of sweepers and in-out fields by Vaughan that also cornered Gilchrist back then. 'They were agile with their field settings,' he said. 'I certainly always felt traditionally that field settings to me tended to follow a certain path and then evolve through an innings, but it felt like they were setting quite unique fields to me in that 2005 series. There might be one slip and a floater and almost a fly slip or deep backward point, clearly targeting an area, on or just outside the off stump.' We sometimes bemoan the lack of bouncers and physical threat in today's game, and it has become an understandably sensitive subject since the tragic death of Phillip Hughes in 2014, but 2005 was not for the faint-hearted. The first morning at Lord's was a brutal examination for the Australia batsmen. As the opener Justin Langer has said: 'It felt more like an AFL grand final or a State of Origin clash between Queensland and New South Wales. Everything seemed to be racing in fast-forward. Matty Hayden was hit in the helmet, Ricky [Ponting] had his face cut open. It was more like a war than a chapter of the gentleman's game.' There is no doubt that the general standard of fielding has improved dramatically since 2005 and even the catching was uncharacteristically sloppy in that series. Pietersen dropped six catches, with Fletcher working out that he was off balance, on one leg, when the ball was hit, with the help of the substitute fielder Trevor Penney (England had some rather good substitute fielders in that series, as Ponting discovered when run out by Gary Pratt) while they were watching one day. Fletcher shouted when the ball was hit and Penney duly did the observations on Pietersen. Of course, Strauss did take one rather exceptional catch off Gilchrist at Trent Bridge (obviously with Flintoff bowling round the wicket), diving so far to his left that his arm became a telescope, and for that Strauss reveals Fletcher's planning. 'Fletch had us doing a lot of our slip catching with a gap between us really trying to challenge us to catch balls outside our own little bubble,' he says. Strauss is unsure whether the standard of slip catching has improved in Test cricket and statistics in that field are scarce and sketchy, simply because one man's drop is often another man's refusal. As for the changes overall in the Test game, especially in these Bazball times, he makes some good points. He is not anti-Bazball but, like many of us, he did watch Sam Konstas's Test debut for Australia and say: 'That risk/reward doesn't make sense to me.' Indeed, it didn't. 'It's still a five-day game and it's still a risk/reward game,' he says. 'You still have to decide whether the reward for the risk you play is the right one. Sometimes the England team have got that wrong. We've come up against some teams that, man for man, we are not as good as, and we have asked them some serious questions because of the way we play. It has really ruffled people. But because it is such a long-form game you are still going to get to the point where the better team come out on top most of the time. 'To win a Test match you don't have to do anything radically different from what we did in our day, which was roughly to find a way of taking 20 wickets in changing conditions over the course of two innings and you have got to get 600-plus runs on the board. How you do that is an interesting question.' It sure is, but 20 years ago, England, unexpectedly and stunningly, certainly found the correct answer.
New York Times
11-07-2025
- Health
- New York Times
Why was Lord's, the home of cricket, decked in red as England took on India?
The iconic Lord's cricket ground turned red on Friday to help families dealing with the heartbreak of terminal illness. There was red clothing, red balloons and even red smoke as the second day of the third Test match between England and India became Red For Ruth Day, in aid of the Ruth Strauss Foundation. Advertisement The aim is to help children facing the trauma of losing a parent. Let The Athletic explain more. An Australian-born actress, businesswoman and mother of two, Ruth McDonald became Ruth Strauss in 2003 when she married Andrew Strauss, an English cricketer whom she had met five years earlier in Sydney, where he was playing club cricket. Andrew made his debut for England later that year and would go on to captain his country in 50 of his 100 Test matches, as well as leading the English one-day international team. After settling in Britain, Ruth moved away from acting to support her husband's career and care for their children. She was diagnosed in early 2018 with an incurable lung cancer that affects non-smokers, and died in Australia on December 29 that year, aged 46. She was survived by Andrew and their two sons, Luca and Samuel, then aged 10 and 13. Sir Andrew, who was knighted in 2019, launched the foundation three months after his wife's death. It was inspired by Ruth's desire to help others prepare their children better for the grief of losing a parent and to raise awareness of the prevention and treatment of lung cancers suffered by non-smokers. On the foundation's website, Sir Andrew writes: 'For those who are diagnosed too late, or are unable to find a successful treatment, they have the hugely painful and unenviable task of preparing themselves and those around them for the inevitability of their death. 'As Ruth bravely considered this towards the end of her life, her thoughts were almost exclusively centred on what her death would mean to the boys and myself, as well as what 'good' could come out of this dreadful situation. 'The idea of the foundation was hers. Aside from driving research into non-smoking lung cancers, she was determined to ensure that others going through what our family had encountered should have a support network available to help them navigate their way through their illness and help prepare the whole family for the death of a parent. 'She wanted people to 'do death well'.' It takes a two-pronged approach. Primarily, the foundation aims to help families prepare as well as possible for the death of a parent who has been diagnosed with a terminal illness. It also tries to raise awareness of the need for pre-bereavement support as well as providing training for nurses to help them support families to prepare children for the loss of a parent. In addition, the foundation has now launched a programme to help train teachers to support affected children in schools and is developing a telephone helpline and online services to support families directly. Advertisement The second focus is on improving research into lung cancers that affect non-smokers by campaigning for more investment and trying to coordinate research. The foundation has already raised more than £4million ($5.4m) and, according to announcements at Lord's this morning, helped more than 5,000 families. Each year, one day of a Test match at Lord's is designated as Red for Ruth Day — the foundation's biggest day annually for fundraising and increasing awareness of its work. Players, officials and spectators are encouraged to wear red clothing, sponsors often agree to redesign their company's branding in red for the day, and the two teams take to the field wearing red caps, which in the past have later been auctioned online to raise money for the foundation. Sir Andrew set the tone today with a bright red suit and tie, while the names and numbers on the white shirts of England's players were switched to red from their normal blue. Lord's, just north of central London, was chosen as the Red for Ruth Day venue as it is not only the historic home of English cricket, but also the home ground of Middlesex, Sir Andrew's county side during his playing career. No. Fundraising days were pioneered by the legendary Australia fast bowler Glenn McGrath, whose wife Jane died from breast cancer in 2008, 11 years after she was first diagnosed. The couple founded the McGrath Foundation together in 2002 and 'Pink Day' has been held at the first Test match played in Sydney every year since 2007 to raise funds and awareness. Sir Andrew took advice from McGrath, his former on-field adversary, when setting up the Ruth Strauss Foundation. In recent years, the Edgbaston ground in Birmingham has designated one day each year 'Blue For Bob Day' in aid of the Bob Willis Fund, set up to raise awareness and funds for research into prostate cancer in memory of the late former England bowler, whose long-time county side Warwickshire call that venue home. Click here to read more cricket stories on The Athletic.
The Hindu
11-07-2025
- Sport
- The Hindu
ENG vs IND, 3rd Test: Why are England players wearing red on Day 2 against India?
England strode out for the second day's play in the third Test against India at Lord's with a changed jersey featuring red numbers and logos. Many of the spectators too have decked up in red for the second day at the 'Home of cricket'. This is part of the Red For Ruth campaign, conducted by the Ruth Strauss Foundation, which is celebrating its seventh edition today. FOLLOW LIVE: ENG VS IND 3rd Test Day 2 live updates The campaign will see players, staff, fans and other stakeholders wearing red clothing in memory of Ruth Strauss, the late wife of former England captain Sir Andrew Strauss. With the support of the cricketing fraternity, the Foundation has provided aid to over 3,500 family members and has trained more than 1,000 cancer care professionals.
India Today
11-07-2025
- Sport
- India Today
ENG vs IND: Lord's turns red on Day 2 to support Strauss Foundation and raise funds
Day Two of the third Test between England and India at Lord's was about more than just cricket - the iconic ground turned red in a heartfelt tribute to the Ruth Strauss Foundation during the annual #RedForRuth day, a deeply meaningful initiative that has become a beloved tradition in the English summer cricket in its seventh year, the campaign sees players, staff, broadcasters, and thousands of spectators don red in solidarity with the Foundation's mission. Established in memory of Ruth Strauss, the late wife of former England captain Sir Andrew Strauss, the initiative supports families grappling with the terminal illness of a parent, transforming grief into powerful community support. It's #RedForRuth Day at the @HomeOfCricket! Please donate if you can to this amazing cause: | #EnglandCricket England Cricket (@englandcricket) July 11, 2025advertisementThe Lord's ground was awash in red, with both England and India players standing together in a formation shaped like a heart. At the center, Andrew Strauss, officials, and children gathered as the kids rang the ceremonial bell to officially start Day 2. The crowd erupted in applause, united in a moment of respect and remembrance. Reflecting on the day, Andrew Strauss shared, "The first year was obviously a deeply emotional time for me and my boys. It's a very proud time for me to see how far the foundation has come, and it makes me feel very warm and fuzzy inside to know that we are helping so many people and, in some way, holding their hands through an incredibly tough time in their lives. Cricket is my home, and hopefully will always be my home."IND vs ENG, 3rd Test, Day 2: Live UpdatesHe added, "The two things coming together [cricket and the cause] create a great day, but that is very much the focal point and the centrepiece. What makes me even more proud is hearing stories of schools and clubs doing their own versions of Red For Ruth. They don't know me or Ruth personally, but they feel connected to the cause."Spectators attending Day Two were encouraged to wear red and arrive early for a special opening ceremony before the first ball. Volunteers sold #RedForRuth bucket hats and handed out Ruth Roses in exchange for donations, helping raise awareness and crucial funds for the Ruth Strauss Foundation was set up in memory of Ruth, who passed away in December 2018 at age 46 from a rare form of lung cancer that affects non-smokers. The Foundation's work includes funding research into rare lung cancers and providing emotional and practical support to families facing the loss of a parent. Since the first Red for Ruth Day in 2019, the campaign has raised over 4 million, supporting more than 3,500 families and training over 1,000 cancer care stadium itself was transformed with red-themed displays, making the tribute a striking sight and a reminder of the Foundation's ongoing mission. The Foundation was created to fund research into rare lung cancers and provide support to families facing the loss of a parent. Since its inception, the #RedForRuth campaign has become a cornerstone of the cricket calendar, uniting the community in remembrance and support.- Ends
Powys County Times
11-07-2025
- Sport
- Powys County Times
England bowling remains a question mark
Sir Andrew Strauss has warned England's bowling attack still have plenty to prove before they can consider themselves Ashes ready. The former England captain will help turn Lord's 'Red for Ruth' on Friday, raising funds and awareness for his Ruth Strauss Foundation, and will be paying a close eye on how the team shapes up on day two against India. And while he is content that Ben Stokes' side have the batting depth to compete with the best in the world, uncertainty remains with the ball after seeing India rack up big runs at Headingley (471 and 364) and Edgbaston (587 and 427 for six declared). Strauss was the last England captain to win the urn Down Under but hopes Stokes can pick up the baton this winter. 'I don't think Ben needs to worry about where he sits in the pantheon of England cricketers, he's already done so many extraordinary things as a player and a captain,' he said. 'But if you want to win in Australia the number one things you need are momentum, confidence and a very stable team. These Tests against India will determine the mood in the camp heading to Australia. 'You need to have a complete team who can win in all competitions and the bowling has been exposed on some very flat tracks in good weather so far this season. That will be one question mark he's still scratching his head around…how can we take 20 wickets? 'They have sharpened up one or two elements overall and their batting is very dangerous. They grab the bull by the horns and have a lot of batters who can hurt you but there are familiar concerns and issues around the bowling.' Friday marks the seventh 'Red for Ruth' event at the home of cricket, in honour of Strauss' late wife, who died of non-smoking lung cancer in 2018. Coming to the Home of Cricket tomorrow? Lord's will be transformed into a sea of red as the cricketing world unites for the seventh annual #RedforRuth day. — Lord's Cricket Ground (@HomeOfCricket) July 10, 2025 The foundation has attracted donations of over £4million over the years, supporting more than 5,000 families facing an incurable cancer diagnosis and offering training to more than 1,300 healthcare professionals. A new school education programme is also being launched, featuring a Minecraft educational game. 'I'm very proud to see what the foundation has done over the last six years and we couldn't have done it without the support of the cricket community,' he said. 'It's always humbling to see Lord's resplendent in red, it's an incredible showcase and we never take it for granted. 'The impact we've made in the past six years is extraordinary, and a huge part of it is down to the generosity of the cricketing community and the public. With the schools programme now in place, we're ensuring that families feel supported not just at home or in healthcare settings, but in schools too.'
