THE ASHES FIRST TEST, FOURTH DAY:ANDREW STRAUSS'S desire to become the first England captain to win the Ashes in Australia for 23 years blazed fiercely here as he brushed aside a historic day and instead castigated his failure as a batsman and a captain for getting out to an Australian part-time spinner.

Strauss and Alastair Cook had both struck their first Ashes hundreds in Australia, they had become England’s most prolific opening batting pair in history and England had lost only one wicket all day. They had recovered a parlous position so brilliantly that they had a lead of 88 runs and nine wickets to take into the final day.

However, Strauss admitted he had rarely been angrier in his career than the moment when he was dismissed for 110, stumped as he was drawn down the pitch by Marcus North, who took only his 14th wicket in 20 Tests.

“It was not the sort of dismissal we were looking for, quite frankly,” Strauss said. “It was not the sort of dismissal I was looking for as both a batsman and a captain. I picked the wrong ball to go down the wicket to and paid the price. When you have conditions in your favour it’s important you make the opposition pay and don’t let them back into the game. It was important I took my opportunity and showed the way. That is one of your duties as captain.

“We had to come back into the game and that meant some of our batters had to stand up and deliver – and thankfully, Alastair and I were able to do that. I had a bit of luck and it wasn’t the best technical innings I have ever played, but in terms of importance it was up there.”

Strauss, who was also dropped on 69 by Mitchell Johnson at mid-off, might have been seething at his final misjudgment but he still strode from the pitch with a fourth Test hundred against Australia, a considerable improvement on his mood three balls into the first day when Ben Hilfenhaus had him caught at gully for a duck and England’s Ashes quest had got off to the worst possible start. Then he felt not anger but despair.

“The third ball of the game was pretty much as close to as bad as I’ve felt on a cricket pitch, getting out in the first over of such an important Test match,” he said.

“It wasn’t the start I was looking for. But that is this wonderful game of cricket; sometimes it does remind you that you need to respect the game.”

It could have been much worse for Strauss, who might have made a pair. He escaped a first-ball duck in the second innings when Australia opted to refer Hilfenhaus’s appeal for lbw, but it was rejected by the TV umpire.

“I thought it was a very good leave,” Strauss joked. “My heart was definitely in my mouth. I did think it was a bit high – I was clinging to that hope anyway. Thankfully, it was the bit of luck that sometimes you need. It wouldn’t have been a particularly pleasant match if that one had been out.”

England’s coach, Andy Flower, returned to the dressing-room for the fourth day, with a large bandage under his right eye, after two days recuperating from an operation on a melanoma. He timed his visit well, enduring the triple-century stand between Mike Hussey and Brad Haddin on TV, but returning for England’s fightback.

Strauss played down the disruption that England had felt during Flower’s absence. Flower’s dressing-room is built on an assertive and clear-minded captain, a strong backroom staff, and demands for high levels of personal responsibility.

Tyrannical leadership is not his thing. He would expect to be able to leave things for a few days without everything collapsing.

“It was nice to have him back,” said Strauss. “I don’t think (his absence) made a huge amount of difference – the dressing-room was probably a bit more lighthearted while he wasn’t there! You want things to be as normal as possible in big Test matches, so when he was away it was a bit odd and it was great to have him back.

“His skin cancer operation has given us all a scare. We did get tested recently. We may need second opinions. It does put everything in perspective. How quickly Andy had to get this done shows it is not something to be messed around with.”

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Scoreboard

Day 4 close

Overnight: Australia 481(M Hussey 195, B Haddin 136, S Katich 50; S Finn 6-125). England 260(I Bell 76, A Cook 67; P Siddle 6-54) and 19-0.

ENGLAND SECOND INNINGS

A Strauss st Haddin b North 110

A Cook not out 132

J Trott not out 54

Extras(b1 lb2 w4 nb6) 13

Total(for 1 wkt, 101 ovs) 309

Fall: 1-188.

To bat: K Pietersen, P Collingwood, I Bell, M Prior, S Broad, G Swann, J Anderson, S Finn.

Bowling: B Hilfenhaus 26-4-75-0; P Siddle 19-3-67-0; M North 12-2-22-1; M Johnson 18-4-65-0; X Doherty 1-3-52-0; Watson 8-2-25-0.