How we celebrated sweet victory
Time lost all meaning as we celebrated winning one of the most amazing games of cricket I have ever seen
The England dressing room was packed with players, family and friends as we celebrated winning the World Cup on Sunday night, but at one stage Eoin Morgan drew us all to one side.
All 15 players and coach Trevor Bayliss stood in a circle for a few moments. Eoin addressed the group and told us this was our moment, enjoy it and soak it all in. He told us we had worked four years for this day. This was our time. We then all put our hands on the trophy together. The speech lasted just 15 seconds, but there was a photograph taken of us all together in that moment which we will treasure for ever.
We stayed in the Lord’s dressing room until after midnight before going back to our hotel to continue the celebrations with family and friends. I do not know what time I
went to bed. Time lost all meaning. But I did get some sleep.
At the moment of victory, I had one thing on my mind. I sprinted towards my mum, sister and all my friends who were sat in a box in the Tavern Stand.
Along the way, there have been a lot of ups and downs in my life but I was so, so happy I was able to share that moment with them. My dad and grandad were there with me in spirit also. It was a moment to remember all the people who had helped put me in a position to celebrate winning a World Cup.
This will not sink in until I am 40 and retired. You have to enjoy and live every moment of this victory and hope it has united the country. The Ashes win of 2005 was an inspiration, as were the 2003 Rugby World Cup-winning guys. I looked up to the players in that rugby side, they inspired me to carry on with my dream of trying to become a professional sportsman. I hope there are kids out there now who saw what we achieved at Lord’s and want to do it themselves one day. Have faith. It can be done. You can win a World Cup.
Ben Stokes played superbly well. People will never understand what
he went through over the past two years, so for him to be man of the match in the final was fantastic. It was a special game, a special innings and a special moment.
I was on the boundary in the super over and I really wanted the ball to come to me. I want to influence a game. I wanted to be in the action. You train for years for those moments and I was ready. I was in the deep, but also up closer than usual because we knew we had to try to stop them running two runs.
When Martin Guptill hit the last ball to midwicket, I was ready to go but it went to Jason Roy and he kept cool, picked up and executed the throw, at least half accurately!
At the halfway stage we were really pleased with how we had bowled. We thought we had done brilliantly to keep them to 241. We were very confident of chasing the score down.
But they bowled brilliantly; they bowled dead straight, gave us nothing and the pitch got harder and harder to bat on. It had lost all its pace.
I thought we were down and out when Jos Buttler got out. Then, in the final over, I remember saying to our analyst we needed sixes. It was then that the deflection off Ben’s bat went to the boundary. I said, right, we had our sixes now.
In the short break before the super over, Eoin decided straightaway that Jos and Ben would go out and bat for us. I felt we would win. Getting to the super over was the hard bit.
Yes, we had some luck along the way but I thought we were favourites for the super over. It was easy watching Ben and Jos bat. There was actually very little tension in the dressing room at that point.
But when we were fielding, it changed again. When Jimmy Neesham hit a six into the stands, it felt all over again. It was one of the cleanest strikes I have seen. It flew miles back into the stands. We just knew we had to get Guptill on strike because he had not faced a ball. That was the moment when I knew we had a chance.
I am still elated. It was an amazing game of cricket. And I just cannot believe what happened. It was a silly game, really. I look back at little pieces of fortune and think it was written in the stars.
This was the culmination of a four-year journey. There were times when I was not part of the team and there are guys now who did not play yesterday, but could quite easily have been picked in the XI. We have had some tough times just in this World Cup alone, but we stuck to our principles and the way we play the game.
Yes, we had some luck, but that is what happens when you keep pushing the boundaries like we have done over the past four years. You make your own luck.
Of course, we feel for New Zealand. It could so easily have gone the other way. But this is our moment. We have to cherish it. These memories will last for ever.
I look back at little pieces of fortune and think it was written in the stars