Former England captain Andrew Strauss has been awarded honorary life membership of the MCC.

Strauss, who led England to back-to-back Ashes victories in 2009 and 2011, announced his retirement from all professional cricket after the Lord's Test against South Africa last August.

Strauss joins a select group of current and former players, umpires, administrators and journalists who are already honorary life members of the MCC, and is the 27th former England skipper to accept the invitation.

"Thank you so much to all at MCC for the offer of honorary life membership. It is, of course, a great honour to receive this invitation and I clearly have no hesitation in accepting," said the 35-year-old Strauss.

Honorary life membership is awarded by the MCC committee in recognition of the service the recipient has given to cricket and projects surrounding the game, often over a prolonged period. Strauss is one of over 300 honorary life members in a total of 18,000-plus MCC members.

MCC president Mike Griffith added: "Andrew has had a remarkable cricketing career and made an outstanding contribution to the game. His achievements for Middlesex and England - particularly at Lord's - are numerous and rightly celebrated."