In the absence of regular skipper Michael Vaughan and inspirational all-rounder Andrew Flintoff, the cerebral opening batsman was handed the chance to lead his country in a Test series for the first time.

It was not a role he took on reluctantly. Far from it.

Regarded as one of the brighter thinkers in the dressing room, a man whose opinion Vaughan values, he slipped comfortably into the job and made it clear he was calling the shots out on the field rather than Vaughan operating via remote control.

Whatever he was doing, it had two positive effects.

Firstly, he scored almost 450 runs in four Tests at an average of 63.4 well above his career average of 41.68.

The team prospered too, recovering from a difficult start to the summer -- under Flintoff's leadership against Sri Lanka -- to sweep Pakistan aside.

But that was the start of the decline.

With Vaughan's absence prolonged, Flintoff was surprisingly preferred as captain for the tour of Australia.

As soon as the Ashes series began Strauss was unsettled by short-pitched deliveries and began driving loosely outside off-stump.

He scored only two half-centuries Down Under and by the time the World Cup came around he was no longer sure of a place in the one-day team.

In the 10 Tests since the Pakistan series in 2006, the left-hander has managed 529 runs at an average of 27.84.

Those figures would have been even worse but for the 77 he made in the final Test against West Indies this summer and the 96 he scored against India at Lord's last week.

Dinesh Karthik should really have caught him for 43 at Lord's when he dropped a dolly at point.

His dismissal by Zaheer Khan on day one of the second Test here at Trent Bridge showed clearly that all is not right: once again there was a leaden-footed waft to slip.

Geoff Boycott said ahead of the fourth Windies Test that Strauss should have gone back to county cricket for a spell to iron out the flaws.

"I've been in that situation when your mind's gone and you can't make a run, your feet are all over the place," the former England opener said. "His feet are not going in the right spot."

If Marcus Trescothick was not out of the equation, the selectors would have a tricky decision to make: whether to leave out the promising and composed Alastair Cook in favour of Strauss' experience.

The chances are they would have gone for Strauss.

There is no denying his previous achievements, and his incredible rate of converting fifties into centuries.

But he is struggling to get to those fifties, having made just two in his last 20 Test innings.

It is no longer an issue of just form with the Middlesex star -there are technical problems which, it has been proved over the past six months, time in the middle at the most pressurised level of cricket do not seem to be curing.