Strauss is caught short in First Test

Andrew Strauss revealed his relief

at ending a long barren spell in

international cricket after scoring

96 to lay the foundations for a big

England total against India.

The 30-year-old Middlesex opener

prospered on his home ground as

Michael Vaughan's team closed day

one of the first npower Test at

Lord's on 268-4.

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Strauss was delighted, despite

falling agonisingly short of a

century. "It was a rush of blood to

the head, but I would have taken 96 at the start of the day,"

he said.

After enduring a

lengthy sequence of low

scores and suffering

demotion from the oneday

team, the lefthander

was delighted to

have made his presence

felt.

"I was just pleased

to make a decent

contribution. It wasn't a

free-flowing innings but

I needed it," he added.

"I felt jaded after the

Durham Test against the

West Indies so it was

good to have a break. I

just thought about the things that I do when

I'm playing well.

"Then facing the Indians

(for England Lions) at

Chelmsford last week

got me into a little bit of

form. Going into this

match, I felt as relaxed

and positive as I had for

a long time. I knew

there was no reason I

couldn't get runs."

But he had a

remarkable reprieve on

43, when Dinesh Karthik

dropped the simplest of

chances.

"I was berating myself

for playing such a

terrible shot and

mentally I was already

walking back to the

dressing-room," said

Strauss. "Then he

dropped it. That was a

big slice of luck for me."

Skipper Vaughan and

Paul Collingwood were

dismissed in the evening

for 79 and nought

respectively to give the

tourists renewed hope

but Strauss, while

admitting that the late

fall of wickets was

"disappointing", claimed

England are capable of

progressing to an

imposing first-innings

total.

He added: "Hopefully we

can get up to around

450-500. We've still got

some good batsmen in

the hut. But those two

late wickets have

evened the game up a

bit more."

England's selectors

sprung a surprise of

sorts by choosing

Hampshire seamer Chris

Tremlett for his Test

debut at Stuart Broad's

expense. But Strauss

denied that the rookie

home attack looks

vulnerable.

"There's no need for us

to protect our bowlers.

I don't have any doubts

about our attack," he

insisted.