'We had Allah with us': Captain Eoin Morgan praises England's diversity after World Cup win
England’s batsman Eoin Morgan has hailed the diversity of his team, after a fiery final which saw the England beat New Zealand in the Cricket World Cup.
Dublin-born Morgan, who previously played for the Ireland cricket team, was asked: “Do you think the luck of an Irishman got England over the line?”
He responded: “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.
“It actually epitomises our team. It has quite diverse backgrounds and cultures… to actually find humour in the situation that we were in at the time was pretty cool."
Rashid and Moeen Ali are two Muslims who featured in England’s World Cup triumph, while the team includes several players who were born in other countries.
Bowler Jofra Archer is Barbados-born to a Liverpudlian father, all-rounder Ben Stokes was born in New Zealand, and batsman Jason Roy was born in South Africa.
Morgan’s response has since gone viral on social media with huge amount of praise.
Independent MP Nick Boles praised Morgan’s comments on Twitter, saying: “Listen up Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn: this is the spirit of the country you seek to lead.
“We saw it during the 2012 Olympics and we saw it this summer during #CWC19Final Our country is so much better than either of you.”
Other political figures were quick to draw a link between the World Cup win and Brexit.
Politician Jacob Rees-Mogg was criticised for what was described as “a silly Brextremist point” on Twitter after England’s victory was confirmed.
“A d..nclose run thing, we clearly don’t need Europe to win…” Mr Rees-Mogg tweeted,linking to a BBC story announcing England’s success.
The Conservative’s tweet received more than 8,000 comments, a lot of which disagreed with his sentiments.
“Suggest you read replies @JacobReesMogg and perhaps instead of making a silly Brextremist point offer congratulations to the Irish captain, the NZ-born Man of the Match and the Barbadian bowler who got it over the line,” tweeted Campbell.
Former footballers Gary Neville and Peter Reid also hit out at Mr Rees-Mogg, with Mr Neville tweeting a simple facepalm emoji in response to the comments.