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Twenty 20 Cricket helped Strauss

Andrew Strauss has revealed how he hopes to become the first beneficiary of Twenty 20 cricket.

Andrew Strauss has revealed how he hopes to become the first beneficiary of Twenty 20 cricket and make the leap from county level to playing one-day international cricket for England after expanding his game during last summer's successful event.

The Middlesex captain, like many others on the domestic circuit, was a little suspicious of the new tournament introduced to English cricket last summer and its emphasis on big hits, boundaries and American-style showmanship. But he now believes that the month-long tournament aided his selection for this winter's one-day squad by opening his horizons to what was possible in the one-day game and enabling him to develop from a batsman whose technique was more suited to first class cricket into a highly-effective one-day player.

"I think I struggled for the first couple of years playing one-day cricket," conceded 27-year-old left-hander Strauss. "I was scoring quite a few runs in first class cricket, but I didn't really feel I had a particular gameplan for one-day cricket and I suppose it takes time and you have to learn from your mistakes in order to get a gameplan that works. I think the Twenty20 Cup helped as well. It helped to lose your inhibitions and allowed you to try out new things and I believe I have a wider range of shots now than I did previously."

That was illustrated when he top-scored for England with 29 during Sunday's thrilling two wickets victory in the opening match of the one-day series in Guyana and looked composed and comfortable at the crease.

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