There are many who will be surprised by that. Until he took over as England captain two years ago he wasn’t even considered as a one-day batsman.
As Sachin Tendulkar has so often proved however, those with the best methods for the longer game can usually adapt it to other formats. All Strauss has really done is added a bit of purpose to an otherwise sound method.
The unlikely ally of his golf swing has come to his aid in this respect. More of that anon. First though, his overall philosophy on one-day batting.
“It’s fairly simple,” he says. “Assess the percentage risks of a particular shot on a certain pitch, and know when and when not to go for the big shots. It comes mainly from experience. In a Test I collect runs early in an innings. In one-day cricket I look to be a bit more assertive.
"But I’m quite selective. And sometimes a little voice in my head says ‘go for the big shot now’ but I have learnt to usually ignore that. There’s nearly always more time than you think.”
“On Sunday I said to the guys at the halfway point ‘it’s a fantastic wicket, just play normal cricket, look to build partnerships but we might have to look to play a few more big shots than normal in the middle overs.’
"I knew I would have to make the first ten overs count and I calculated that Munaf Patel would bowl a fairly consistent length so I selected him as the bowler to go after initially and try and disrupt his rhythm.”
It didn’t quite work because Patel tucked him up a bit as he sought to use his feet and go down the ground. He was not flustered though because he knew the spinners would offer scoring potential.
“The Indians always tend to have a couple of close fielders – a slip and a leg slip – to their spinners and that gives me some boundary options,” said Strauss.
“With no man at short fine leg for instance, a fine sweep will go for four. Also if I look to play a couple of slog sweeps I can get the deep mid wicket fielder moved squarer, and then wait for one to pull in front of square. Its all about field manipulation. Sachin does that brilliantly.”
He looked to hang on the back foot – while Kevin Pietersen is inclined to lunge forward at everything – and use the pace of the ball.
“In India because the ball doesn’t move much footwork is not all that important,” he said. "Look at the way Sehwag bats. He rarely gets forward. And he’s pretty successful!”
The one extra dimension he has added to his one day game is six-hitting. He rarely hit balls over the ropes until two years ago when he adapted his prowess at golf – he plays off five – into his batting.
“It was Paul Collingwood [also a handy golfer] who first came up with the idea. Instead of running up the pitch and trying to hit the spinners over the top with an orthodox straight swing of the bat, we tried using more of a golfers back swing, taking the bat back and round behind your head and then using your hips and clearing your front leg to follow right through over your shoulder,” said Strauss.
He gets up from his hotel room sofa to demonstrate this with his club of a bat, illustrating how if the ball is not quite in the slot you can still go through with the shot and drag it more over the legside.
“I tried it in the one-dayers in the West indies against the left arm spinners and it worked really well and I’ve practised it a lot since,” he added.
“It gives me the confidence to know I don’t need to worry about the men on the boundary.”
He proved that with his advance up the pitch to Yuvraj Singh on Sunday to plant the ball 20 rows back over long on despite the presence of a fielder in that position. “I backed myself to clear him,” he says.
How does one pace an enormous run chase like that? “We use the Duckworth-Lewis par score on the board as a guide. We tried to keep ahead of it all the time. You don’t want to leave too much to do at the end, but it’s important not to panic.”
Strauss passed 4,000 one day international runs during his scintillating century, another cuff to the heads of his one-day detractors.
“I have reached the stage of my career when I’m not bothered about what people say about me,” said Strauss “I know I’m actually one of the most important players in the one day side and being here at the World Cup really floats my boat, being on a world stage to show what I can do.”
With his smart approach, he could just help England get a little further than everyone expects.
As Sachin Tendulkar has so often proved however, those with the best methods for the longer game can usually adapt it to other formats. All Strauss has really done is added a bit of purpose to an otherwise sound method.
The unlikely ally of his golf swing has come to his aid in this respect. More of that anon. First though, his overall philosophy on one-day batting.
“It’s fairly simple,” he says. “Assess the percentage risks of a particular shot on a certain pitch, and know when and when not to go for the big shots. It comes mainly from experience. In a Test I collect runs early in an innings. In one-day cricket I look to be a bit more assertive.
“On Sunday I said to the guys at the halfway point ‘it’s a fantastic wicket, just play normal cricket, look to build partnerships but we might have to look to play a few more big shots than normal in the middle overs.’
"I knew I would have to make the first ten overs count and I calculated that Munaf Patel would bowl a fairly consistent length so I selected him as the bowler to go after initially and try and disrupt his rhythm.”
It didn’t quite work because Patel tucked him up a bit as he sought to use his feet and go down the ground. He was not flustered though because he knew the spinners would offer scoring potential.
“The Indians always tend to have a couple of close fielders – a slip and a leg slip – to their spinners and that gives me some boundary options,” said Strauss.
“With no man at short fine leg for instance, a fine sweep will go for four. Also if I look to play a couple of slog sweeps I can get the deep mid wicket fielder moved squarer, and then wait for one to pull in front of square. Its all about field manipulation. Sachin does that brilliantly.”
He looked to hang on the back foot – while Kevin Pietersen is inclined to lunge forward at everything – and use the pace of the ball.
“In India because the ball doesn’t move much footwork is not all that important,” he said. "Look at the way Sehwag bats. He rarely gets forward. And he’s pretty successful!”
The one extra dimension he has added to his one day game is six-hitting. He rarely hit balls over the ropes until two years ago when he adapted his prowess at golf – he plays off five – into his batting.
“It was Paul Collingwood [also a handy golfer] who first came up with the idea. Instead of running up the pitch and trying to hit the spinners over the top with an orthodox straight swing of the bat, we tried using more of a golfers back swing, taking the bat back and round behind your head and then using your hips and clearing your front leg to follow right through over your shoulder,” said Strauss.
He gets up from his hotel room sofa to demonstrate this with his club of a bat, illustrating how if the ball is not quite in the slot you can still go through with the shot and drag it more over the legside.
“I tried it in the one-dayers in the West indies against the left arm spinners and it worked really well and I’ve practised it a lot since,” he added.
“It gives me the confidence to know I don’t need to worry about the men on the boundary.”
He proved that with his advance up the pitch to Yuvraj Singh on Sunday to plant the ball 20 rows back over long on despite the presence of a fielder in that position. “I backed myself to clear him,” he says.
How does one pace an enormous run chase like that? “We use the Duckworth-Lewis par score on the board as a guide. We tried to keep ahead of it all the time. You don’t want to leave too much to do at the end, but it’s important not to panic.”
Strauss passed 4,000 one day international runs during his scintillating century, another cuff to the heads of his one-day detractors.
“I have reached the stage of my career when I’m not bothered about what people say about me,” said Strauss “I know I’m actually one of the most important players in the one day side and being here at the World Cup really floats my boat, being on a world stage to show what I can do.”
With his smart approach, he could just help England get a little further than everyone expects.
