England's captain, Andrew Strauss. - file

LONDON, England (CMC)

Andrew Strauss, who led England in the recent Test and one-day series against West Indies, said yesterday it had been his choice to stand down from the World Twenty20 squad.

His name was not among the 30-man squad announced by the England selectors on Monday to prepare for the June 1-21 tournament.

"The selectors asked my opinion, but whoever captains has to be worth their place, and I didn't feel I was necessarily in the strongest 11 Twenty20 players in the country," Strauss told English media.

"You need to be scoring 170s and 180s in your 20 overs, and in order to do that you need the power players, which is not a strength of mine."

Strauss, who replaced Kevin Pietersen ahead of the Caribbean tour, emerged as England's leading batsman in both the Tests and One-Day Internationals.

He scored 541 runs in the five-Test series and also finished with the most runs in the ODI series with 204 runs at an average of over 50.

Strauss, who missed the lone Twenty20 International against West Indies in Trinidad & Tobago, said his time away would give him a chance to sharpen his game for the key Ashes series.

"I'm not doing this because I feel jaded, but obviously the fact that I'm not going to be playing will give me more time to work on my game, and make sure that I am right technically, physically and mentally - prior to the Ashes," he said.