Sir Andrew Strauss says England's World Cup win was dream fulfilled - Sky Cricket Podcast
"That moment will undoubtedly live with them for the rest of their lives. It will be impossible to replace"
Saturday 4 April 2020 17:43, UK
Sir Andrew Strauss says watching England's World Cup win at Lord's was "the fulfilment of a dream" and believes Eoin Morgan's victorious players will never have a better moment in their lives.
Strauss helped start England's white-ball revolution following a disastrous group-stage exit at the 2015 World Cup when he was named managing director of men's cricket, quickly keeping faith with Morgan as captain as well as installing Trevor Bayliss as coach.
The former England captain stepped down from the job in October 2018 to spend more time with wife Ruth, who passed away from a rare form of lung cancer in December of that year.
Strauss, though, was at Lord's in July as part of Sky Sports' punditry team for the thrilling victory over New Zealand on boundary countback after a tied super over.
Speaking on the Sky Sports Cricket Podcast, which you can listen to in the player above, Strauss said: "Making my debut was the fulfilment of a dream and watching that final was a fulfilment of a dream I had but also everyone in that team had.
Download the podcast: iTunes | Spotify | Spreaker
"To see Morgan, who had lived and breathed it and captained incredibly well throughout that whole period. To see Jofra Archer, to see Ben Stokes.
"That moment - I know it having been there with the Ashes in 2005 and winning in Australia [in 2010-11] - will undoubtedly live with them for the rest of their lives. It will be impossible to replace.
"I'll be careful saying this with birth of kids and whatever, but I honestly believe that will be the best moment of their lives. It was just an extraordinary spectacle and the best possible advert for cricket.
"I am so proud of those players for doing it because it is hard. It's unbelievably challenging to go 'I could get out trying to hit this bowler over the top but I am going to do it anyway'.
"You need skill to do that but a lot of courage as well. If it was easy to do it that way we would have done it in every World Cup for the last 25 years!"
England's bid for a maiden 50-over World Cup title looked in real jeopardy when back-to-back group stage defeats to Sri Lanka and Australia left them needing to beat India and New Zealand to make the quarter-finals.
Morgan's men did just that and then went on to thump Australia by eight wickets in the semi-final, with Strauss saying a team meeting with England days before the victory over India at Edgbaston proved vital.
"I felt we were drifting along and becoming a pale impersonation of ourselves so it was really reassuring to see how England played against India, first of all," he added. "That was an unbelievable performance.
"They backed it up against New Zealand. Then that semi-final performance against Australia was just outstanding.
"All the stuff we had talked about over four years was demonstrated when the pressure was on and that was off the back of an internal conversation but also some deep-rooted confidence they had built over four years. You can't just magic that up.
"The meeting that England team had, ran by Eoin and Trevor, was the difference between us winning the World Cup and going out in the group stage, I think. Eoin had senior guys who would follow him through a brick wall."
Strauss has set up The Ruth Strauss Foundation in his late wife's name, with the aim of funding research into rare forms of lung cancer and to support patients and their families.
Lord's turned 'Red for Ruth' on day two of the second Ashes Test between England and Australia last summer and Strauss says plans are in place for the day to hopefully be staged again this year.
"I said the one thing I won't be able to live with myself for is if Ruth and the boys are not the priority," said Strauss. "She'd been there for me in my career and I wanted to be there for her.
"She didn't have nearly as long as we thought she would have but it was a very special 12 months for us. The World Cup was brilliant but I had a newfound perspective on life.
Ruth Strauss Foundation website | @RuthStraussFdn
"Being there to support Ruth while she was alive was crucial but now it's about creating a legacy. That's what she cared about. Making the world a better place, making people's lives better.
"That drove me to the Ruth Strauss Foundation and trying to approach that with the same passion with which I had done cricket previously. We were very fortunate to raise over one million pounds in our first year, which is a phenomenal effort.
"We are also in the early stages of designing a training programme for health professionals and others to have better conversations with people about death. That is very important for us going forward."
