Strauss and Cherry pay tribute at Morris' funeral

Tributes were paid at the funeral of former Glamorgan and England batsman Hugh Morris, which took place in Cardiff on Tuesday.

Morris, a former England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) chief executive, died aged 62 in December.

He had also served as Glamorgan chief executive during a distinguished career on and off the pitch.

Speaking outside Llandaff Cathedral in the Welsh capital, former England captain Sir Andrew Strauss said: "I came to really value his very sound council, wisdom, cheeky smile and I suppose calmness in a crisis as much as anything.

"He's going to be sadly missed by the whole cricketing fraternity I suppose.

"Unfortunately his death came far too soon but obviously it's a great opportunity for us all to come here and celebrate his life today."

Strauss added: "I was lucky enough to work with Hugh for a long time throughout my career as an England player and most particularly in my time as England captain, so I got to know him very well.

"He was a brilliant cricket administrator, you know, probably overseeing some of England cricket's greatest times."

Strauss recalled Morris as "just a very calm, kind, caring guy, the sort of guy where you always knew whatever he said would've been well thought out, I think".

Strauss added: "You know just one of the great cricket men quite frankly. It's fitting that we're all willing to come here and celebrate his life and contribution to the game of cricket.

"I think you've got to be careful with legacies, things move on so quickly and we forget a lot of what people do. I think his legacy will be yes, he did oversee a great period in English cricket and of course Glamorgan cricket as well as CEO.

"He was a great cricketer as well so I think he will be very satisfied knowing he made a major contribution to the game. The game moves on you know The Hundred, short form cricket all that sort of stuff has taken over.

"But Hugh was a very safe pair of hands as a cricket administrator over a long period of time."

Glamorgan chief executive Dan Cherry said the funeral was "obviously a very sad day".

He added: "But I've got great memories of working alongside Hugh. I grew up as a young Welshman trying to aspire to be like Hugh Morris and represent Glamorgan and open the batting.

"He was a hero of mine, I watched Hugh score loads of runs for Glamorgan and then he moved on to the ECB and when he came back to Glamorgan it was a great privilege to work for Hugh. A great man and I've learnt a lot from him over the years.

"I think it's rare isn't it to see someone achieve the heights that he did on the field and certainly off the field he's got a great legacy to look back on for English and Welsh cricket.

"Not only the great work that he did on the ECB, but when he came back to Glamorgan as chief executive he really took the club forwards and given us a great foundation to build off."

"He was the kindest most humble man that you'll ever meet, always putting other people first and you'd never know all the things that he'd achieved in life," Cherry continued.

"He made you feel 10ft tall whenever you spoke to him and he was a fantastic mentor.

"He'll be really sadly missed by myself and everyone at Glamorgan.

"He'd achieved so much it's difficult to pinpoint one thing, he always took great pride in developing young Welsh talent, young boys and girls he wanted to see them succeed.

"I think he'll be really proud knowing that we are seeing some young Welsh talent coming through. I think, look The Hundred and securing Welsh fire will give Glamorgan a great chance for the future and make us more financially sustainable.

"Hugh's great legacy will be developing the next batch of young players and setting up Glamorgan for a bright future."