The final of the ICC World Cup 2019 saw hosts England take on New Zealand. England made it to their first final after the 1992 edition, while the Kiwis were playing their second consecutive final. The match was poised to be a thriller and it proved to be one.
Kane Williamson won the toss and chose to bat first and both teams went in unchanged from their semi-finals. Martin Guptill’s woeful tournament came to an end with a score of 19, but Nicholls (55) and Williamson (30) added 74 runs for the second wicket. However, after they got out, apart from Tom Latham (47), no one else managed to get going to up the ante of the innings during the second half of the innings. Neesham made 19 and De Grandhomme made 16 and New Zealand reached 241/8 in 50 overs.
Liam Plunkett (3/42) and Chris Woakes (3/37) were the best bowlers for the home side.
Jason Roy fell for 17 and Jonny Bairstow made 36. Roy fell first to Henry and then De Grandhomme took care of Joe Root, who was out for 7. Bairstow followed for 36, as he was castled by Ferguson. Then Neesham earned a big scalp in form of England skipper Eoin Morgan for 9 and England found themselves in trouble at 86/4.
Then came probably the partnership of match for the hosts as Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler added 110 runs, before Buttler, on 59, chanced his arms a little too much and was caught by Southee off Ferguson. This left Stokes to do all the dirty work and with Woakes (2) and Plunkett (10) gone, it all came down to 25 runs in last two overs.
A big moment came in the match when Boult took Stokes’ catch and then stepped onto the boundary ropes to concede six runs. England needed 15 runs in last over with Stokes the only recognized batsman and Boult conceded no run off the first two balls. But Stokes hit one for six and then got 6 runs via overthrows, as the throw from Guptill hit the diving batsman and went to the boundary. It all came down to two runs off the last ball. The match ended up in a tie for the very first time in a World Cup final and we had a Super Over.
Super Over:
England batted first in the Super Over, which was the first one in ODI history and hit Trent Boult for 15 runs. Jofra Archer came out to bowl for England, while for New Zealand, Guptill and Neesham came out for the chase of 16 runs. It all came down to 2 runs on the last ball, but Guptill was run out, the Super Over was tied.
However, England won their maiden World Cup tournament and became the third team to win as hosts, as they won the super over on basis of more boundaries hit. For New Zealand, it was a bigger heartbreak than 2015 because they had two chances to end it in their favor, but they couldn’t do it.
The Cricket fraternity took some time to catch their breath and applauded the first time World Cup champions. We have some of the best tweets for your consideration.
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