PAUL NEWMAN: Superman Stokes is the man for the big occasion to seal famous England win 

There were those who felt that Ben Stokes was not big enough for this England Twenty20 World Cup squad, even though he spent the summer effectively turning the test team into a turbocharged white-ball outfit.

It’s certainly not without irony that Stokes should be spending the red ball season dancing down the wicket and trying to knock Test bowling out of the park, taking on an old-fashioned anchor role in a Twenty20 side full of big big hitters during this World Cup.

‘If he hit the Test side like that he’d drop himself,’ joked captain Jos Buttler after Stokes led England to another World Cup win with an unbeaten 52 from 49 balls, as they beat Pakistan’s 137 for eight with one left to save.

Ben Stokes hit the winning run as England won the T20 World Cup final by five wickets

But if Stokes has taken a rather opposite approach to England’s red and white ball cricket this year, one fact remains indisputable: when the chips run out, when England needs a hero, their very own Superman is always around to to the rescue.

No wonder Buttler, coach Matthew Mott and everyone within earshot were adamant when anyone questioned Stokes’ role on this side.

Of course they wanted him here. Of course they wanted him on the team, even if he hit in a retro white-ball manner that belied his long absence from international T20 cricket.

England were immensely grateful to Stokes for winning them over in their final group match against Sri Lanka in Sydney, playing the situation where everyone around him kept trying to free the ropes.

The talisman all-rounder finished 52 not 49 balls to send England home

And how thankful they were when Pakistan’s cornered tigers looked like they could match Imran Khan’s 1992 squad by beating England against all odds in a World Cup final in Melbourne.

Stokes changed all that. He held out as the best bowling team in this tournament threw it all to the best batting formation in Australia. How strong were Haris Rauf and Naseem Shah on a used pitch in Melbourne with lots of swing, seam and bounce as Pakistan fought tooth and nail to defend a substandard total.

But just as Stokes was the main man behind England’s legendary 50-over World Cup win in 2019, and just as he was the main man in Headingley’s wonder in the Ashes series that followed, he was the main protagonist here again. man.

He played the situation to perfection, driving his luck as Naseem repeatedly beat the bat, hitting the winning run at the end to the delight of an England squad who have united the 50-over and T20 world titles and can now lay claim to one of the greatest white-ball sides the game has played.

England is the first side to hold the 50-over World Cup and the T20 World Cup simultaneously

It must be said that England was quite lucky.

Who knows what would have happened if Pakistan captain Shaheen Shah Afridi had been fit enough to bowl his last two overs at a time when England still needed 41 out of 30 balls and the nerves were ringing?

But after throwing a ball from the 16th, Shaheen was forced to run, after aggravating the knee injury that nearly kept him out of this World Cup by catching Harry Brook on the border.

It was, by getting out, Brook’s biggest contribution to this World Cup.

Stokes and Moeen Ali seized their moment and hit substitute Iftikhar Ahmed for 13 runs on the remaining five balls from the over and gained the momentum that would take them home, even as Moeen was bowled by Mohammad Wasim with the winning line in sight.

Sam Curran was named Player of the Match and Tournament after finishing 3-12

What a triumph this is for Captain Buttler, who has now really settled in after taking over from a legendary predecessor in Eoin Morgan.

And what an achievement this was not only from Stokes but also from the bowlers, who narrowed Pakistan to an average score. Adil Rashid has been sensational in the last three games you have to win in England, having made a relatively quiet start to this tournament.

And he took here two for 22 to complete figures of four for 58 in 12 overs in the last three games. At 34 years old, he remains indispensable on this side.

Even more important was Sam Curran, the player of the tournament after taking his wicket tally to 13 with three casualties here, and the remarkable figures of three for 12, proving beyond doubt that he is a permanent young player looking to goes forward in a side full of over 30s.

Stokes came in with England on the brink of collapse and again they saw them at home

It’s possible Curran wouldn’t have been here in the England first team if Reece Topley hadn’t stepped on the boundary post in a pointless warm-up match in Brisbane and damaged the ankle ligaments.

But how Curran has responded to his opportunity. He missed last year’s T20 World Cup through injury, but made up for it in spectacular fashion and will now be the first bowler on the England team sheet.

England had to prove they had enduring quality after their transformation from 2015’s dinosaurs to today’s dynamic white-ball side, before their key players grew too old to add to that 2019 win.

Adil Rashid was again outstanding, finishing his four overs with figures of 2-22

It was a triumph for Buttler’s captaincy and how wonderful it was to see the players’ families partying with them on the Melbourne outfield afterwards.

It’s a second world title since 2015 to prevent England from being regarded as the near-men of white-ball cricket, one that landed on hostile soil at the cathedral of Australian cricket – the MCG.

Now Buttler can move on to his new white-ball era after putting it well and really into gear. Not least thanks to the extraordinary figure of chieftain Stokes.