ICC World Cup 2019 | England obliterated Australia with bat and ball, says an elated Andrew Strauss

07/12/2019

An over the moon Andrew Strauss couldn’t contain his emotions as England, according to his own words, obliterated their arch rivals Australia in the semi-final of the 2019 World Cup. After their poor show in 2015, it was Strauss who led their four-year makeover plan, for the 2019 edition.

England’s 2015 World Cup campaign was so embarrassing to the level that it was impossible to have envisaged that they would make the final of the 2019 edition. Their only wins in 2015 came against Scotland and Afghanistan. But that England side is a long forgotten memory now. Soon after returning home, the management sat down with former England captain Strauss. They appointed him as Director of Cricket, asking him to lead the four year plan to revolutionise the ODI setup.

The ECB sacked Peter Moores, the head coach, and replaced him with Australian Trevor Bayliss at Strauss’ command. He then urged the board to place all their emphasis on ODIs. Four years later as England marched through to a World Cup final on home soil, their first final after 27 years, the former captain couldn’t contain his joy.

"That was England's best performance of the World Cup. England absolutely obliterated Australia with bat and ball. The way (Chris) Woakes and (Jofra) Archer set the tone was fantastic. And with the bat, I mean it was just outstanding batting from (Jason) Roy in particular. The way he lined up (Mitchell) Starc, I thought he was fantastic,” Strauss told AFP.

Strauss, who had to leave his role in 2018 to spend more time with his family after his wife was diagnosed with lung cancer, said the England boys will play the final firmly believing that they can win it.

"It was the ultimate performance. England will go into that final with just incredible spirits, huge confidence and they will be confident they can put New Zealand away as well. I was getting quite emotional watching that today. All I ask from this England team is to play the same way on Sunday," Strauss said.

On the other side, one of Strauss’ nemesis from his playing days, Shane Warne, was gutted with Australia’s loss. However, he admitted that England were the much better side, and praised Eoin Morgan’s aggressive captaincy.

“Disappointing from a Australian point of view, but they were outplayed by England from the word go. England showed their class, I thought Eoin Morgan was world class. He manipulated his bowlers well, he could have easily backed off but he didn't. He brought Archer back earlier to go for it and (Adil) Rashid was the real ace for Morgan today,” Warne said.

The Australian legend, a World Cup winner himself, said that England are on the perfect track to lift the ultimate prize at Lord’s on Sunday.

"England seem to be peaking at the right time and that's what you have to do to win World Cups," Warne added.