Andrew Strauss retains team-mates backing as captain

Andrew Strauss has received a resounding vote of confidence from his England ranks that he is unquestionably the right man to captain his country at the World Cup.

Strauss' credentials to lead England on the sub-continent were surprisingly called into question, on the very day his man-of-the-match 126 helped his team open up a 2-0 NatWest Series lead over Pakistan at Headingley. The opening batsman's fifth one-day international hundred, and second in three innings, came only hours after an expert panel of former England cricketers had picked their team to travel - without him - to India and Bangladesh next February. Their deliberations came as a shock to Strauss' team-mate Ravi Bopara, who can make no sense of any doubts about a player whose limited-overs game has developed so significantly in recent years. "You want Andrew Strauss in your team," he said. "I think he showed everybody how he can bat yesterday."

Bopara knows from his personal Indian Premier League experience what it takes to make quick runs in that country, and he is convinced Strauss can do so. "His power-hitting has certainly come on over the last few years," added the Essex batsman, currently deployed in England's middle order.

"The way he played yesterday, he used the pace and hit a lot of big shots square. But he can adapt when he needs to. He has got two hundreds in the last three games. He has batted brilliantly in the last few one-dayers. We all know how hard it is to get one-day hundreds. It is a very difficult thing to do. He is doing it I think he should definitely be in the team (for the World Cup).He is our number one choice (as captain)."

• In yesterday's Scotsman, a report stated that the SNCL play-off match between Kelburne and Stathearn took place at Penicuik. The match was, in fact, played at New Williamfield, Stirling.