Strauss promises to 'come to the party'
England captain Andrew Strauss insisted he was determined to “come to the party” with the bat in the third and final Test against Sri Lanka at the Rose Bowl.
The 34-year-old left-handed opener, who made a hundred on Test debut, has managed just one century in his last 34 Test innings -- 110 in the drawn Ashes opener against Australia in Brisbane in November.
And although England lead Sri Lanka 1-0 in this series, following an innings victory in the first Test in Cardiff, Strauss's return has been a meagre 24 runs at an average of eight. In the drawn second Test at Lord's -- his Middlesex home ground -- Strauss was twice lbw for four and nought to left-arm seamer Chanaka Welegedara.
“I was frustrated with my returns at Lord's,” Strauss told reporters at the Rose Bowl here today -- the day before Hampshire's headquarters makes its Test debut. “But that's the nature of the beast as an opening batsman, sometimes you get a couple of good balls early.”
“I'm very comfortable with my own game and I'm very comfortable with us as a batting unit - six out of seven were in fantastic fettle in the first two matches, now it's my turn to come to the party, no doubt about that.”
"I just have to make sure I do all I can to get back in the runs,” added Strauss, who has a career average of nearly 43 in 84 Tests with 19 hundreds.
“You can over-think these things but I have scored
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