England win World Cup: Andrew Strauss says 'someone was looking down' during final

Andrew Strauss says he felt "someone was looking down" on him and the England team during Sunday's World Cup final victory.

Strauss was England's director of cricket but left the role in 2018 to support his wife, Ruth, when she was being treated for terminal cancer.

He was speaking at the launch of the Ruth Strauss Foundation Day.

It will take place on the second day of the second Ashes Test at Lord's next month.

"We are going to try and turn Lord's red for the day as a testament to my wife Ruth, but more importantly as a way of increasing awareness and raising funds for the Ruth Strauss Foundation," Strauss told BBC Sport.

"I am incredibly passionate about it."

Ruth Strauss died, aged 46, as a result of a rare lung cancer in December.

Players will wear commemorative shirts including the Ruth Strauss Foundation logo, red caps and red numbers during the second day of the Test between England and Australia on 15 August, with spectators also encouraged to wear red clothing.

Former England captain Strauss says he has spoken with the The McGrath Foundation, who hold a similar day during Test matches in Sydney to raise money in memory of former Australia bowler Glenn McGrath's late wife, Jane.

Strauss is credited with helping to turn around England's fortunes in white-ball cricket as they progressed from a humiliating early exit at the 2015 World Cup to dramatic victory in Sunday's final against New Zealand.

"It was an incredibly emotional day to have my kids there," Strauss said.

"It was my son's 11th birthday as well and he was there watching it all unfold.

"Sometimes you get the rub of green and feel like someone is looking down on you and I definitely felt that, not just for me, but all of English cricket on Sunday."

England's World Cup win was a first for the men's side after Strauss led a change of approach over the past four years, prioritising 50-over cricket.

"It was all about Test cricket and then the World Cup would come around and we would be playing the wrong style, hadn't put the right preparation in and we would give ourselves a slap on wrist and say 'that wasn't very good' and repeat the same mistake next time," Strauss said.

"I felt with the World Cup in 2019 in England we couldn't do that.

"I would have been so angry with myself and others if we had done that again."

The change in approach has arguably come at the detriment of the Test team with the side struggling away from home in particular, losing away series to India, Australia, Pakistan, West Indies and New Zealand in the past four years.

Strauss said England now have to aim to be like the "Australia team of the late 1990s and early 2000s" that dominated in Test and 50-over cricket.

"That Australia team demonstrated you can be number one in the world in all formats and dominate," Strauss said.

"That has got to be the ambition for us.

"I don't think by prioritising one you can't prioritise both."

One of Strauss' key decisions regarding the one-day team was to keep Eoin Morgan as captain after the 2015 World Cup when he led England during their group-stage exit.

Strauss said England "would not have won the World Cup without Morgan".

"He has embodied everything we have tried to do in white-ball cricket," Strauss added.

"It has been his sole focus. He has pushed and driven the team to get over the line."

Responding to reports Morgan is considering his future as England's one-day captain after the win, Strauss said: "To stay on as captain he needs to be driven and motivated to push people on, as he has done over the last four years.

"If he has the bit between his teeth then we've seen just what a fantastic leader he is.

"The rest of the team will follow him until the last day he is on a cricket field, and he needs to decide when that is."

Fast bowler Jofra Archer was one of England's star players at the World Cup, taking 20 wickets in 11 matches and bowling the crucial super over in the final.

The 24-year-old, who was born in Barbados, only made his England debut in May having qualified in March after a change in residency rules, and is now being tipped to be given a Test debut in the Ashes.

"I think if he is fit enough to get through a Test match, he plays," Strauss said.

"He is a point of difference player. He gives us something we otherwise wouldn't have and he is just so good for a 24-year-old.

"I am struggling to think of another player who has had an impact he has had in such a short space of time."

Strauss is keen to reconcile with former England team-mate Kevin Pietersen, having previously said "there is a massive trust issue between me and Kevin" when he took over as England's director of cricket in May 2015.

Strauss captained Pietersen in the England team that became world number one in the Test rankings but the pair had a difficult relationship.

Pietersen was dropped for a Test in 2012 after reports he sent derogatory text messages about his team-mates - including Strauss - to South Africa players.

Strauss apologised in 2014 for making an offensive remark about Pietersen during a live broadcast on Sky Sports and in 2015 effectively ended the batsman's England career after it was suggested he could be reinstated for that summer's Ashes.

But Strauss said he now believed "bygones are bygones".

"What I have been through in the last six or seven months makes you realise the little things in life are little things and not to make them drive the rest of your life," he said.

"I am 100% looking forward to spending time with Kevin and reliving those great moments in an England shirt again."

Source: BBC News

Powered by NewsAPI.org

Keywords:

Andrew Strauss • Andrew Strauss • England cricket team • Andrew Strauss • England • Cricket • Lord's • Lord's • BBC • Lung cancer • England cricket team • Australia national cricket team • England cricket team • McGrath Foundation • Test cricket • Sydney Cricket Ground • Australia national cricket team • Bowling (cricket) • Glenn McGrath • Andrew Strauss • England cricket team • Cricket • 2015 Cricket World Cup • New Zealand • England • Cricket • England • Cricket World Cup • Bangladesh national cricket team • Andrew Strauss • Limited overs cricket • Test cricket • Cricket World Cup • Cricket World Cup • England cricket team • Test cricket • India national cricket team • Australia • Pakistan • West Indies cricket team • New Zealand • England cricket team • Australia national cricket team • Test cricket • List A cricket • Cricket • Australia national cricket team • Andrew Strauss • Andrew Strauss • Limited overs cricket • Eoin Morgan • Captain (cricket) • 2015 Cricket World Cup • England cricket team • Football at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Men's tournament • England • FIFA World Cup • Cricket • England cricket team • One Day International • Captain (cricket) • Captain (cricket) • Cricket pitch • Fast bowling • Archery • England cricket team • Gentlemen v Players • Cricket World Cup • Wicket • Bowling (cricket) • Super Over • Barbados • England cricket team • Test cricket • The Ashes • Test cricket • England cricket team • Kevin Pietersen • Cricket • Andrew Strauss • England cricket team • ICC Test Championship • Kevin Pietersen • South Africa • Andrew Strauss • Kevin Pietersen • Sky Sports • Batting (cricket) • England cricket team • The Ashes • Little Things (One Direction song) • Little Things (One Direction song) • England •