Captain Jos Buttler hails Ben Stokes as the “ultimate competitor” after the all-rounder takes England to T20 World Cup glory in Melbourne.
Stokes’ 52 not out led England to a five-wicket victory over Pakistan.
It comes after his match-winning heroics in the 2019 50-over World Cup final and the Headingley Ashes Test in the same year.
“He always stands up in the biggest moments,” said Buttler. “I’m so proud he’s stood up and done it again.”
England restricted Pakistan to 137-8 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, before recovering from 45-3 to chase the target with an over to spare.
Stokes, whose place in the side was questioned at the beginning of the tournament, followed a match-winning innings in a must-win group game against Sri Lanka with his first T20 international half-century in the final.
“He is the ultimate competitor in anything he does,” Buttler told Test Match Special. “He has a lot of experience now and he can take a lot on his shoulders.”
For 31-year-old Stokes, this latest performance comes after a year in which he has taken over the captaincy and revived the fortunes of England’s Test team.
When asked if Stokes should be considered England’s greatest cricketer of all time, Buttler said: “He can be in the conversation, for sure.”
Stokes described the final victory as an “amazing night”.
“I’d rather be out there trying to affect the game than sat in the dugout saying, ‘I wonder what is going to happen’.”
Stokes, Buttler, Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood and Adil Rashid remain from England’s 2019 World Cup-winning squad. This latest triumph means they are the first men’s team to hold both white-ball world titles at the same time.
“I am very proud,” said Stokes. “You don’t get to win World Cups too often so to win two of them is pretty special.”
“It just shows where we are as a team. We all know the talent that we possess. We all have clarity from Jos and the management about what we want to do as a team and when you’re clear what the team ethos is, it makes it a lot easier.”
Buttler has led them to the crown only five months after taking over as captain from Eoin Morgan.
The wicketkeeper was part of the England team dumped out of the 50-over World Cup in the first round in 2015. Since then they have not failed to reach the semi-finals in five global tournaments.
“A lot has been made of the changes in white-ball cricket in England and the journey the teams have been on,” said Buttler.
“To have won in 2019 and now win this T20 World Cup, as well, it just shows the vision at the start that people had where we could get to as an England white-ball team, and there’s no reason why we shouldn’t go on from strength to strength.”
The triumph in Melbourne also means that white-ball coach Matthew Mott has success in his first tournament in charge of England.
Mott wins a World Cup for the second time this year, having led his native Australia to the Women’s World Cup in New Zealand in April.
“It is very special for me,” said Mott. “We wanted to turn up, put on a show and enjoy it.
“I would like to say it was easy but we did it the hard way. The boys held their nerve and got a great result.”
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