Andrew Strauss steps down as director of England cricket for personal reasons on temporary basis

Andrew Strauss is stepping down as director of England cricket on a temporary basis for personal reasons. Strauss flew home from the Ashes tour in December after his wife Ruth was diagnosed with cancer, and with a new course of treatment beginning later this week, Strauss said he would be taking a back seat for the foreseeable future in order to support Ruth and his two children. Andy Flower, the England coach between 2009 and 2014, and more recently coach of the England Lions, will replace him.

“We’re very lucky that she’s been very well until now,” Strauss said. “Although she is starting a new treatment on Friday that is going to be more challenging for her. As such, I’m going to be stepping back from my day-to-day duties while that treatment is going on.”

Strauss has understandably kept a low profile over recent months while his wife has been fighting the disease, skipping the recent tour of New Zealand and making few media appearances. In the meantime, he has been assembling a revamped scouting network, which it was announced on Tuesday would include former England internationals Marcus Trescothick, Glen Chapple, Steve Rhodes, Richard Dawson, Chris Read and James Taylor in addition to new national selector Ed Smith.

And with Flower waiting in the wings – the architect of one of the most successful England teams in history – Strauss felt it was the right time to step aside. “We all know about his qualities and his experience of both England and English cricket, and he will fill my shoes very adequately,” Strauss said of Flower.

“Obviously, I look forward to returning after the treatment’s finished and grabbing the reins again. But I hope you appreciate that for this period of time, my focus needs to be on supporting Ruth and my family at a challenging time.”

With England beginning their international summer with the first Test against Pakistan at Lord’s on Thursday, Strauss outlined some of the work that will be done in his absence. With the new scouting network in place, Strauss hinted that it might even be prepared to look beyond the county system in search of the X-factor cricketers required to turn around England’s abject recent record in away Test series.

“Over the last two or three years our performances haven’t been good enough,” he said. “This isn’t just about the England team, this is about our pathway, the Lions team, and the role played by county cricket. We’ve got to be prepared to approach things very differently.

“The focus has to be on getting our players better, more skilful, able to overcome those unique conditions. It’s about identifying players that have a point of difference, and helping them develop. Guys that have a unique talent as a spin bowler, guys who can bowl 90mph, left-arm seamers, bowlers with unique reverse swing skills.

“And also just keeping an open mind about players from left-field. Maybe guys that haven’t played a huge amount of county cricket, but have come from the leagues, and have something different. We’ve got to be far more creative. It can’t just be a continuation of what we do in the summer.”

Strauss on… separate coaches for the white-ball and red-ball sides

There’s definitely an opportunity to look at that a bit more creatively. It’s very hard for one coach to coach all formats. It’s possible, and we’ve seen most other teams go down that route. But we play more cricket than anyone else, for longer periods of the year, and that’s something we’ll be looking at.

...India captain Virat Kohli joining Surrey ahead of the Test series against England

My honest answer is it’s a great thing for the game in this country. He will obviously benefit a huge amount from it. It’s not our decision whether counties employ people or not.

...player resistance to the ECB’s new 100-ball competition

The players haven’t had much information about it. This is a consultation phase, we’ve launched the concept, and we’ll be speaking to the players in the coming months. There is a long time between now and the first ball bowled in that tournament.

...Ben Stokes’s trial in August

I know he’s desperately keen to make his mark while he’s in the England team ahead of that trial. We’ve learned a lot. We’re keen to look at it as a positive thing, in terms of how we approach our culture and environment.

...the team curfew

It’s still in place. Let’s make no bones about it, we’re a high-performance environment, and how the guys prepare for games is not something that should be frowned upon. That’s something that should be expected of players, and they’ve got used to it.

...England’s poor Twenty20 form (three wins in last 10)

We use Twenty20 cricket as an opportunity to rest our players, so I wouldn’t place too much stall on that at the moment. In the lead-up to a big event, we’ll focus more on Twenty20 cricket. Our focus at the moment is very much on the 50-over game.