Strauss shows that simple approach can be best

The first man to score hundreds in both innings of a Test match for England was Jack Russell in 1923. He was sick at the time and, according to the report of the match in Wisden, "he ought to have been in bed rather than on the cricket field". Russell's reward for this heroic endeavour was never to be picked again.

Such a fate should not befall Andrew Strauss who became the 10th England batsman, and the first since Marcus Trescothick in 2004, to achieve the double by following his 123 in the first innings of the first Test against India with 108 in the second yesterday. Unlike Russell, Strauss has been the beneficiary of selectorial steadfastness, though there must have been times in the past two years when he felt like taking to his bed, pulling the blankets over his head and trying to forget. Last night he will have dreamt the sweetest dreams.

After a triumphant beginning to his Test career – he made 112 and 83 on his debut – Strauss has enjoyed slender pickings. He was dropped a year ago and, although his recall against New Zealand went well, he found South Africa in the late summer a different proposition.

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Even if this was not quite a make-or-break series, Strauss could not go on failing against high-quality opponents. Since the start of the Ashes series two winters ago he had played 22 of England's 25 Tests before this one in Chennai for an average of 33.65. Discard his 10 innings against New Zealand, a Test team in name only, and his average falls to 26.87.

Doubts were being expressed and the figures did not lie. His footwork was dodgy and the whereabouts of his off stump seemed to have become a mystery beyond solution. He might as well have been searching for another planet so often was he nicking it to slips or wicketkeeper, and he was trying to play in a manner to which he was simply not fitted.

Strauss was not born to hit the ball straight, he was made for the less exalted, but no less profitable areas.

But one of Strauss's many enviable qualities, perhaps the most enviable, is his phlegmatic state. During the good days which formed most of his first two years as a Test cricketer he often alluded to the truth that it would not always be this good. It was as if he was preparing himself for the hard times and preparing the selectors for them as well.

Lest it be forgotten, Strauss had scored more runs after his first 10 Test matches (1,055) than any other England player. He was ahead of Wally Hammond, Herbert Sutcliffe, Len Hutton, legends all, as well as Russell, who played only 10 matches in all and is in fourth place in the list with 910 runs.

Ultimately, that was why the selectors kept Strauss going and since their stated policy of continuity has led to charges of establishing a closed shop they deserve credit. They knew he had done it before and were praying he could do it again. Strauss arrived in India short of practice. Perhaps he now knows it is possible to have too much practice.

He did the simple things in both his innings at the Chepauk stadium and played to his strengths. It was more prudent than the former Chancellor of the Exchequer once was. There was almost nothing down the ground and he leant constantly on his old pals, square of and behind the wicket.

Never could it be described as thrill-a-minute, but that did not make it any less enthralling. He and Paul Collingwood, another who was flirting with the selectors' loyalty, guided England unerringly to a position from which they should not have been in danger of losing.

England have never lost a Test in which Strauss has scored a hundred, which should make them doubly secure. He has put self-doubt behind him now. It is difficult to assess how many more Tests two centuries in one match is worth. Five, maybe ten? But the one certainty is that Strauss will not follow Russell into county obscurity.

Double trouble: England's perfect 10

*Andrew Strauss is the 10th England batsman to hit two centuries in a Test.

C Russell 140 & 111 v S Africa, 1923

H Sutcliffe 176 & 127 v Australia, 1925

and 104 & 109* v S Africa, 1929

W Hammond 119* & 177 v Aust, 1929

E Paynter 117 & 100 v S Africa, 1938

D Compton 147 & 103* v Aust, 1947

G Gooch 333 & 123 v India, 1990

A Stewart 118 & 143 v W Indies, 1994

M Vaughan 103 & 101* v WI, 2004

M Trescothick 105 & 107 v WI, 2004

A Strauss 123 & 108 v India, 2008