'He's almost superhuman' - Eoin Morgan lauds extraordinary Ben Stokes

Eoin Morgan hailed England's heart-stopping victory in the World Cup final at Lord's as the culmination of a four-year journey, and singled out Ben Stokes for particular praise for the manner in which he carried the team's hopes in both their faltering run chase and then the Super Over.

Stokes top-scored for England with 84 not out from 98 balls in their regulation 50 overs, having rescued the team from 86 for 4 in the 24th, and then - while battling fatigue - added a further eight runs from three balls in the Super Over.

"To come through it is extraordinary," said Morgan. "He's 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."

It was particularly sweet for Stokes to be England's hero in light of what happened to him on the last occasion that England reached a world final, the T20 World Cup in India in 2016, when he was hit for four consecutive sixes by West Indies' Carlos Brathwaite.

"I have said this a number of times about Ben, I think a lot of careers would have been ended after what happened in Kolkata," Morgan said. "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."

Speaking with the World Cup trophy sitting next to him at Lord's, Morgan joked that he was carrying it around with him as much as he could because he still could not believe the extraordinary circumstances in which his team had inched over the line, beating New Zealand on boundary countback after they could not be separated on the field.

"To me and to the team, and everybody who has been involved over the last four years, it means absolutely everything," Morgan said. "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."