England captain Eoin Mogan: We’ll celebrate as hard as we can

Captain Eoin Mogan, still coming to terms with the magnitude of England’s achievement, was ready to admit that the home team got the rub of the green — which many attributed to the “Irishman’s Luck” — in the summit clash.

England’s captain Eoin Morgan and his deputy Ben Stokes share a light moment as team-mates Jofra Archer and Adil Rashid look on during the presentation ceremony. Morgan had nothing but empathy for the Black Caps, who lost the title on count-back of boundaries after both the regulation 50 overs and the Super Over ended in ties.

The England men’s team’s long wait for cricket World Cup glory was finally fulfilled by an Irishman. Eoin Morgan kept his nerves to shepherd his team to a thrilling final glory. The Dublin-born Morgan has come a long way from his days at the Rush Cricket Club to lift the trophy for his adopted country, at Lord’s.

The southpaw, still coming to terms with the magnitude of his team’s achievement, was ready to admit that the home team got the rub of the green — which many attributed to the “Irishman’s Luck” — in the summit clash. “We had Allah with us as well. I spoke to Adil (Rashid), he said Allah was definitely with us. I said we had the rub of the green (smiling) ,” the captain was at his humorous best.

Elaborating further on the diversity of his team — Ben Stokes was born in New Zealand, Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali are second-generation Pakistanis, Jason Roy is from South Africa — Morgan said: “It actually epitomises our team. Diverse backgrounds and cultures and guys grew up in different countries, and to actually find humour in the situation we were in at times was pretty cool.”

Morgan had nothing but empathy for the Black Caps, who lost the title on count-back of boundaries after both the regulation 50 overs and the Super Over ended in ties. “It was the most incredible game of cricket, with nothing between the sides. I commend the Black Caps and Kane (Williamson, New Zealand captain), they’ve been absolutely incredible, Morgan said. “They’ve been actually through a better tournament than we have. The fact a trophy is sitting here is, you know — like I mentioned, we got the rub of the green today. New Zealand, throughout the group stages, were absolutely outstanding, very consistent and in the semifinal were very ruthless in playing against India, India are an extremely strong team.”

Morgan acknowledged the effort put in by the Christchurch-born Stokes — his deputy — throughout the tournament. “He’s almost superhuman. He has 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,” Morgan said. “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.”

The southpaw, however, was reluctant to admit the World Cup win was a life-changing event. “I hope it (life) hasn’t changed that much. I enjoy my life. I lead quite a quiet one, so I hope it hasn’t changed too much,” he said. “I would love it to change for everybody else who wants it to change, but I enjoy my life.”

Morgan was not ready to speculate about the future and the possibility of defending the world crown in India in 2023. “We will let the dust settle; we’ll celebrate as hard as we can. I think it’s deserved. And then we will look at things,” he said. “Four years is a long time. I think the big question I will have to answer is will I be in the team in four years, will I be good enough? These guys are improving very quickly. Will I be able to keep up with them.”