England Captain, Andrew Strauss, showed no sign of rustiness in his first innings since the end of the England one-day series in the West Indies at the beginning of the month.

It was good news for England ahead of next week’s test match at Lord’s and also for Middlesex for whom he played a quite magnificent innings of 150 (off just 167 balls) as they made 281-2 against Leicestershire at Southgate before rain prevented any further play after tea.

After Shaun Udal won the toss for Middlesex, Andrew Strauss opened the batting with Billy Godleman with Australian test opener, Phillip Hughes, dropping down to number three in the order. Hughes did not have to wait long to get to the crease as Godleman was LBW for a single to the 7th ball of the match, bowled by AJ Harris.

Hughes for once, had to play second fiddle as Strauss waltzed to his fifty off just 54 balls (8 fours) out of a total of 73-1 after sixteen overs. Strauss went down the track to hit off-spinner Crowe for a straight six and continued to pepper the boundary boards reaching 94 not out with one over remaining before lunch. Unfortunately, Strauss took a single off the first ball of the next over and Hughes played out the remainder to leave Strauss on 95 not out from the Middlesex total of 138-1 at lunch; Phillip Hughes was 35 not out.

Strauss reached his hundred in the third over after lunch, dispatching New Zealand seam bowler O’Brien for another boundary (off 112 balls, 1 six & 16 fours). Phillip Hughes joined in the action with a six over long-on off Crowe before taking ten runs off the following over from O’Brien to reach his fifty (off 92 balls, 1 six & 6 fours).

Runs continued to flow with the two hundred coming up in the 44th over before Strauss reached his 150 in the 52nd over (off 164 balls, 1 six & 22 fours). His partnership with Hughes had reached 244 for the second wicket before Strauss thin-edged a catch to wicketkeeper Paul Nixon off the bowling of White.

At this point, Phillip Hughes was 88 not out when he was joined at the wicket by Neil Dexter. Dexter scored four boundaries in making 24 not out before tea; Hughes took a single off the first ball of the tea over and he went into the interval on 99 not out (off 179 balls, 1 six & 9 fours).

Bad light delayed the resumption after tea, followed by rain; play was eventually called-off at 5.30pm resulting in the loss of 32 overs in the day’s play. Carl Crowe, who bowled his off-spin throughout the afternoon session, was the best of the Leicestershire bowlers, finishing with figures of 0-87 from 23 overs.

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