England captain Andrew Strauss has retired from all forms of cricket.
Strauss skippered his country in 50 of his 100 Tests and is handing over to one-day captain Alastair Cook.
Strauss, 35, said: “For me the driver to it all quite frankly was my form with the bat. In truth, I haven’t batted well enough for a long time now. I think I have run my race.”
He denied his decision to quit was influenced by the furore over Kevin Pietersen’s axing from the team.
Strauss scored 7,037 Test runs at an average of 40.91, leaving him ninth in England’s all-time run-scorers list.
During his time in charge, England became the world’s best Test team for the first time.
Cook, 27, will take charge of his country for the first time in the four-Test series against India in November.
He said: “I’m very excited by this new challenge. It is a huge honour to be appointed Test captain and I am very much looking forward to captaining the side in India this winter and beyond.”
Strauss was England’s third-most experienced captain and the second-most successful behind Michael Vaughan, with a record of 24 wins from his 50 matches at the helm. (BBC)
