Strauss stakes his claim on the Kiwi frontier

'I certainly feel like I'm in a much better place now than where I was at the end of last season,' says England's erstwhile opener as he watches the Sri Lanka series unfold from afar.

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Dropped by England despite having a central contract, the 30-year-old left hander is carefully plotting his return from the spartan surroundings of Middlesex's indoor cricket centre in North London.

With typical enterprise, Strauss will turn himself into a one-man advance party by arriving in New Zealand ahead of England's tour there in February and March.

At best, his stint next month with Northern Districts in Hamilton will springboard him back into the squad. At worst, if he continues to be overlooked, it will be a testing new experience that will set him up for next summer and make him battle sharp and easily available should injuries occur in the England party.

Either way, he is approaching the prospect with rekindled enthusiasm. 'At the end of the India Test series I felt very tired, maybe stale,' he says.

'It had been a long 18 months on the road and when you're not playing as well as you would like it feels longer. Against India I found it tough to get up mentally for every innings and I felt a bit like being on trial.

'One of the hard things about international cricket is that it does not give you the chance to step back. I had a month completely away from the game at the end of the season and since then I've been working on a couple of technical adjustments. It's great to be able to do that without worrying about having to make runs next week.

'That doesn't mean that it was anything other than bitterly disappointing to be left out of the side. I felt very much part of the England team and an important cog in it, but when you're out you realise that nobody has a divine right to be in it. It has been a bit strange because, when you've been part of it a long time, you feel like you want to be out there helping them win.'

Strauss had an incredibly impressive first two-and-a-half years in the England Test team and his average of nearly 33 from his past 15 appearances is hardly disastrous, but there is no question the past 12 months have been more difficult.

Victim of the terrible blunder to make Andrew Flintoff captain for the Ashes, Strauss's problems can be traced back to the decision to relieve him of that responsibility after he had done an excellent job against Pakistan in 2006 while Vaughan was injured.

It is one of the few issues that draws the admission of a mistake from Duncan Fletcher in his sour and self-justifying autobiography.

Strauss had more than his share of poor luck against Australia, but does he agree the captaincy knock took its toll?

'I certainly feel I've always batted better when I'm captain, whoever I've played for, and in that Pakistan series I think I batted as well as I have ever done for England,' he says.

'I felt I was getting used to captaining the side and that I did a pretty good job while I was in charge. So it was disappointing, but the reality is that it wouldn't have mattered much who was in charge because they were by far the better side and showed again the sort of standards we have got to reach.

'I think Fred was made a bit of a scapegoat. The only thing I can say is that, whatever decision they made, I hope they made it for the right reasons.'

He declines to elaborate on that observation, but it may be fair to speculate that he was unimpressed by the suggestion that, had he been in charge, Flintoff and his sidekick Steve Harmison might have been disruptive.

Strauss may yet return as Test skipper one day because unlike Australia — who are grooming Michael Clarke to take over from Ricky Ponting — there is no young England player in the wings should anything happen to Vaughan. Paul Collingwood has almost no first-class captaincy experience.

First — as he himself points out — Strauss needs to get back in a team for whom he still averages more than 40.

To that end, he is going back to the days when he would winter in the Antipodes. Strauss is a firm believer that you develop more as a cricketer and a person that way than in the more coddled environs of an academy.

'The last time I did something like this was in 2000 when I played for Mosman in Sydney grade cricket,' he says.

'That was a great growing up experience, being called a Pommie so-and-so and having to prove yourself among people you didn't know. Playing for Northern Districts is probably the last chance in my career to play in a different environment in a new place.

'As an international player, you are setting yourself up for a fall so the challenge of being in a new dressing room really excites me.

'Any time you take yourself out of your comfort zone, you learn a lot about yourself. There are other guys in possession of my place and I haven't received any assurances from the selectors. If I don't get picked for the tour, I will stay there until April anyway.

'But I am doing my best to put my name in there and everything should be in place mentally, technically and fitness-wise. I will be fully refreshed.'

Test matches:

As captain: played 5, runs 501, average 55.66.

As non-captain: played 38, runs 2722, average 38.88

Overall: played 43, runs 3223, average 40.79

One day internationals:

As captain: played 13, runs 401, average 33.41.

As non-captain: played 65, runs 1838, average 31.63.

Overall: played 78, runs 2239, average 31.98