London, May 19(ANI): England captain Andrew Strauss, whose form has been under the scanner for the last 18 months after having managed to score just one century in the last 50 innings, has said he is relieved after reaching the three number figure on the second day of the first Test match against the West Indies at Lord's.
Strauss' unbeaten knock of 121 against the Windies could now effectively remove any doubts on his future as Test captain for the foreseeable future.
The skipper guided his team to 259-3 at stumps with a 16 runs lead over the Windies.
Strauss said he has always felt privileged to play at Lord's, and his latest century took him beyond 1,500 runs at the venue, with legendary batsman Graham Gooch being the only other player to have done that before.
"This is a special place, the Home of Cricket and the ground by which all others are measured. I've always considered it a huge honour to represent my country here at Lord's," the Sun quoted Strauss, as saying."There was pressure to get some runs for the lads, the last 15 were hard mentally because I've not been there for a while. There was a great sense of relief and it was a really special moment and a great ovation. But it doesn't change anything, I still have to get runs next time I bat," he added."My century against New Zealand in Napier in 2008 was when I was on the edge of a precipice - it was P45 time. I wasn't in that situation but it's nice to get a monkey of your back," he said. (ANI)
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