Lucky Morgan basks in World Cup glory

LONDON: As an Irishman, Eoin Morgan believes in luck. After what happened at Lord’s on Sunday, he probably also believes in Allah.

Told by team-mate Adil Rashid that “Allah was definitely with us”, Morgan saw stars just aligning in his team’s favour enabling England to win their maiden World Cup title in a World Cup final against New Zealand that was full of drama.

“I spoke to Adil, he said Allah was definitely with us. I said we had the rub of the green,” Morgan told reporters soon after lifting the coveted World Cup trophy in front of jubilant home supporters at the Home of Cricket.

“It actually epitomises our team. Quite diverse backgrounds and cultures and guys grow up in different countries and to actually find humour in the situation we were in at times was pretty cool.”

Despite facing a high-pressure Super Over, the English players remained relaxed.

“I encouraged them to smile, laugh, enjoy because it was such a ridiculous situation, where there was quite a lot of pressure in that particular moment of the day, never mind the rest of it, and the fact it got to a Super Over and we had that to defend,” he added.

“It was a matter of trying to put smiles on the guys’ faces to release a bit of tension and the guys responded brilliantly to that.”

Morgan hailed match-winning Ben Stokes for single-handedly guiding the team to victory.

“(Ben) is almost superhuman. He really carried the team and our batting line-up. I know Jos (Buttler) and his partnership was extraordinary, but to bat with the lower order the way he did, I thought was incredible.

“The atmosphere, the emotion that was going through the whole game, he managed to deal with that in an extremely experienced manner. And obviously everybody watching at home will hopefully try and be the next Ben Stokes.

“Ben on numerous occasions has stood up individually and in a unit for us. He leads the way in training, in any team meetings we have, and he’s an incredible cricketer. And today he’s had a huge day out and obviously we are thankful for that.”

By becoming England World Cup-winning captain Morgan has joined an elite list that includes legends like Bobby Moore and Martin Johnson.

But Morgan played down the comparisons.

“There’s no Mount Rushmore. Primrose Hill, that’s about it.

“I’m not sure (my life has changed). I hope it hasn’t changed that much. I enjoy my life.

“I lead quite a quiet one, so I hope it hasn’t changed too much. I would love it to change for everybody else who wants it to change, but I enjoy my life.

“To me and to the team, and everybody who has been involved over the last four years, it means absolutely everything and the planning, the hard work, the dedication, the commitment and the little bit of luck today really did get us over the line.

“It's been an absolutely incredible journey to everybody around the country and around the world who has followed us and supported us, thank you so much. It's been phenomenal.

“Right from the very beginning of the tournament, all the way through, regardless of our performance, people believed because we believed and I'm very thankful for that and everybody is as well.”