Andrew Strauss

Andrew Strauss, has stepped down from his role as skipper in ODI cricket, confirmed the ECB in its media release today. Strauss who captained England for 62 matches, has also decided to retire from the shorter version of the game, to concentrate on Test Cricket, as well as to lead the side to greater achievements in the longer version of the game.

Alistair Cook, who has so far played well in the longer as well as the 50 over format of the game, will be taking over from Strauss in the ODI-50 over matches. On the other hand, Stuart Broad will be taking over the captaincy from Paul Collingwood, who held the position in the 20 over format for about two years.

Strauss was expressive in describing his experience as captain so far, saying “I’ve enjoyed my time as England one-day captain immensely and I’m extremely proud of the strides we’ve made in limited-overs cricket over the past two years. We still have a long way to go if we’re to achieve our goal of winning ICC global events and I feel now is the right time for me to step aside and ensure someone else takes up that challenge.”

He also explained his decision to retire from one day cricket, saying “Retiring from one-day cricket will also enable me to focus solely on the Test captaincy and our ongoing development in the Test arena as we also strive to be the top-ranked team in world cricket.”

Alistair Cook too expressed his happiness over receiving the one day captaincy and said, “Andrew Strauss has led the one-day team to continued success over the past two years and I’ll be looking to continue that progress as captain… I will continue to work closely with Andrew Strauss and also Stuart Broad as we form a leadership team across all forms of the game. We have the chance to work together and share ideas which will benefit our cricket in all three formats.”

Cook as well as Broad will get to put on their thinking caps on the field in June-July, when England play against Sri Lanka in one T20I and 5 ODI matches. Broad who took over the captaincy from Collingwood, hoped to “relish the opportunity” to develop his leadership skills as a captain.

Collingwood who has retired from Test Cricket but hopes to represent the country in ODI’s, said “It’s been a privilege to captain my country and I will look back fondly on my time as Twenty20 skipper. The highlight of my time as captain is clearly last year’s World Twenty20 title but there have been many achievements to be proud of.”

Hugh Morris, the managing director of ECB thanked Paul Collingwood for his stint as the captain of the team as well as his contribution to the English team in all formats of the game by calling him a “catalyst” in the scheme of things.

He further acknowledged Strauss’ decision to step down from ODI captaincy, and said that after a “comprehensive interview process”, did they choose Cook and Broad as the new successors in the two formats of the game.

Tags: Alistair Cook, Andrew Strauss, Cricket, ECB, England, Paul Collingwood