An absolute thriller of a cricket World Cup final saw England pipping New Zealand to the post.
Unless you've been living under a rock or, worse, don't follow cricket, you'd know what a Super Sunday it was. An absolute thriller of a cricket World Cup final saw England pipping New Zealand to the post with nothing at all to show as the winning margin. The two teams ended neck-to-neck on runs after the allotted 50 overs and, for the first time in the Cup's 44-year history, the final went into a Super Over, which too failed to break the tie. As preposterous as it may sound, England was declared champion (their maiden Cup) on the number of boundaries they scored during the innings: 26 versus New Zealand's 17.
Yes, England deserved to win and no, New Zealand did not deserve to lose. And we can all debate it until the cows come home if the umpires missed a trick in awarding England six and not five runs after the ball ricocheted to the boundary off Ben Stokes, but what's done is done and England now have the bragging rights of being world champs for the next four years. England indeed had luck on their side with the rub of the green going their way, but as skipper Eoin Morgan put it, the team also had Allah with them. He noted that "Allah was definitely with us. I said we had the rub of the green. That actually epitomises our team. We're from quite diverse backgrounds and cultures and guys grow up in different countries," Morgan told the press.
The English squad has a truly diverse character: Morgan is Irish born, Stokes is originally from New Zealand, Jofra Archer is of Barbadian heritage, Jason Roy is from South Africa, and Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid are of Pakistani descent. Devout Muslims Ali and Rashid came in for exceptional praise when they were seen rushing away from the huddle moments before the bottles of bubbly were popped open. To stay away from the celebratory podium after winning a hard-fought tournament and especially when you know that the world will be watching is something that deserves to be applauded. England's maiden world cup triumph by its most diverse and multi-cultural team should eliminate any doubts about how immigrants contribute to a country's success.
https://www.khaleejtimes.com/editor...-with-us-morgans-remarks-show-team-diversity-