By David Slater
May 22 2004

Andy Strauss made history today scoring a century on his test debut at Lord's against New Zealand. Opening the batting with Marcus Trescothink, Andy raced towards a century but slowed down and put the nervous into the "nervous nineties". On 91 he edged onto the stumps but the bails never even

rattled. He survived a catch and LBW appeal before sending the ball towards the boundary rope to complete the century in style, despite over 40 minutes in the ninties. He was eventually dissmissed on 112.

On getting a century on his teste debut at Lord's, Andy said "It's a dream to get a hundred at Lord's on debut - you can't get better than that."

On getting away with edging onto the stumps he added "Sometimes it is just your day," said the 27-year-old. "Somewhere the gods were smiling down on me."

But Andy was under no elusions as to how much playing at Lord's was a help. "I felt comfortable here; I've played with the slope but it is everything - the lunch, the dressing-rooms," he said. "I've been in good form all season, coming back from the West Indies. I'm never afraid to play shots and it was a good wicket, a good day and the sun was out."

Century makers in test debut.