LONDON, (Reuters) – England captain Andrew Strauss voluntarily stepped aside as skipper for the Twenty20 World Cup because his form in the shortest form of the game did not guarantee him a place in the side, he said yesterday.
Strauss was omitted on Monday from a provisional 30-man squad for the tournament to be staged in England from June 5-21. The squad will be trimmed to 15 on May 1.
Asked by reporters if it had been his decision to stand down, Strauss said: “Yes it was.
“Certainly they (the selectors) asked my opinion on it and I felt quite strongly it’s not my strongest form of the game by any means.
“I think whoever captains any team should be worth their place in the side,” added Strauss, who was taking part in the England and Wales Cricket Board’s official launch of the 2009 season.
“I had problems, I didn’t feel that I was necessarily in the strongest XI of Twenty20 players in the country so if that was the case it was wrong for me to captain the side.”
Strauss, 32, said the challenge of planning and preparing for the Ashes series against Australia starting in Cardiff on July 8 had not played a part in his decision.
