Strauss flies in for a one-day honeymoon

By rights, Andrew Strauss should be gazing at honeymoon snaps this week and settling into married life. Instead, he is wondering whether a first England appearance might be just around the corner.

Middlesex's 26-year-old captain narrowly missed out on a place in Michael Vaughan's Test squad for the tours of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

But, to his surprise, the left-handed opener was picked for the one-day international party and seems likely to play in tomorrow's warm-up match here against an invitation XI.

Either way, Strauss is thrilled to be part of England's plans - despite the fact it involves leaving his wife, Ruth, barely a week after they were wed in Ballarat, near Melbourne.

Still, as an Australian she doubtless appreciates that sport always comes first. "And at least we didn't have to change the wedding date," said her husband. Barring injuries, England are unlikely to alter their one-day plans for Friday's first international against Bangladesh in Chittagong.

Vikram Solanki did well enough during the summer to continue as Marcus Trescothick's opening partner, at least for the time being.

But Strauss can do himself plenty of good by impressing at every practice session and during tomorrow's run-out, assuming established players like Trescothick are rested.

"All I've said to myself is that I've got to do all I can to show England what I'm capable of," he said. "I was a little bit surprised to be selected in the one-day squad.

"But from my point of view it's great to be involved and if you look at some of the people picked for England's Test team, there seems to be a bit of a trend that they get tried out in the one-day set-up first."

It certainly worked that way for Jimmy Anderson, Anthony McGrath, Gareth Batty and Rikki Clarke.

He's already travelled a fair distance. Born in Johannesburg, both his parents are South African. The family moved to Australia when he was six, then - 18 months later - to England. Now, in Bangladesh, his life could be about to change again.