News

Returning Strauss declares ‘first-class’ loyalties

(12 April 2011)

Andrew Strauss (r) with Graeme Fowler

History-making England cricket captain and Ashes hero Andrew Strauss received yet another accolade as Durham University, where Strauss fashioned his cricketing skills, awarded him with an honorary degree.

Strauss, flanked by former England test centurion and fellow Durham alumnus Graeme Fowler, who was his coach at England's first MCC University at Durham, was awarded an honorary doctorate in civil law.

Strauss was making his first public appearance on home-soil, in Lord's historic Long Room, since an enthralling start to 2011 with England's record-breaking Ashes win and a barnstorming run to the ICC World Cup quarter-finals. He was quick to acknowledge the role his days in the lecture theatres and playing fields of Durham played in driving his career.

In his 2009 book, Testing Times: In Pursuit of The Ashes he reflected "Whenever I wasn't reading economics (which was often) I underwent the transition from being a recreational cricketer into one who had the ambition to play the game for a living."

Wearing a hooded graduation robe at the ceremony to mark his honorary degree, he spoke further of how his academic (and non-curricular) endeavours at Durham between 1995-98 shaped him not just as a cricketer, but as a leader.

"In my time at University I learnt about the game and about myself. With the help of Foxy (Fowler), the other coaches and my teammates I instilled in myself the ambition and the values that I rely on today - on and off the field.

"Grassroots cricket at universities is critical to identifying and nurturing talent and the standards of coaching and personal development supported by the MCC is at the heart of embedding strong team-working and leadership skills in the culture of our national game."

Durham coach Fowler, best remembered for the 'double-double century' partnership at the 1985 Test in Chennai with Mike Gatting (Strauss' coach at Middlesex who was also present at the graduation dinner), looked back on Strauss' time at Durham with great fondness.

He said: "Andrew was always such a gifted ball player, be it rugby, golf or tennis, in fact we had to persuade him to consider giving up Rugby after an ankle injury kept him out of action for the University, and for Middlesex, during his 2^nd year.

"After an unspectacular start as a batsman, it was wonderful to see Andrew develop this part of his game with some sparkling innings in his third and final year with us. This came about by simply getting him to 'think' whilst on the field and to get cricket, and his ambitions, into perspective and to focus on a career in the game.

"He was a very talented lad - very cool and unflustered - and we just needed to kick-start him to realise his full potential. The Centre of Excellence at the University, which was in its infancy at that time, helped Andrew to think and to grow as a player, but no one could have imagined just how much he'd go on to achieve."

The black-tie event at Lord's was also attended by some of Durham University's sporting stars from the past and present including England Women's Ashes-winning star, and Natural Sciences student, Holly Colvin. Other cherished sporting alumni from Durham's classes include Strauss' fellow national-team standard-bearers Will Carling, Nasser Hussain and Olympian Jonathan Edwards, and former England cricketer and current MCC Head of Cricket, John Stephenson.