Favorite England beat New Zealand in the nail-biting final of the Cricket World Cup at the Lord’s Cricket Ground on Sunday for the first time in history.
Amid scenes of agony and ecstasy, the contest was decided in the super over, also a first in a world cup final match.
Both sides ended up scoring the same total, not only in the allotted 50 overs, but also in the super over. However, an unlucky New Zealand lost the match due to it hitting a lesser number of boundaries in the inning and in the super over.
Earlier, New Zealand posted a modest target of 242 for England to win in 50 overs, who ended up scoring 241 all out after Mark Wood was run out off the final ball.
England was lucky enough to tie New Zealand’s score as it got four overthrow runs in the last overs. However, the resurgent Boult did not allow Stokes to score three runs off the last two balls bringing the two sides to a draw.
In the super over, Ben Stoke and Jose Butler accumulated 15 runs against New Zealand’s seasoned player, Trenet Boult. In response, New Zealand’s James Neesham and Martin Guptill managed to level the score but lost the title on superior boundary count.
This time, New Zealand required two runs from the last ball but could score only one.
England — the founder of cricket — won the world cup for the first time. Previously, it had played the finals of 1979 and 1992 world cups but lost to the West Indies and Pakistan, respectively.
Sunday’s match was New Zealand’s second consecutive final. It had lost the 2015 world cup final against Australia.
Man Of the Match
Ben Stokes took three runs off the first ball of the super over followed by a single off the second. Butler could manage to take a single off the third ball, though two successive boundaries by Stokes brought England’s score to 15 at the end of the super over.
Joffer Archer of England began with a wide ball followed by a yarker that resulted in just two runs. The third went out of the mid-wicket boundary into the stands for a six by Neesham. He dispatched the fourth and fifth deliveries to mid-wicket for two runs each. However, he could not take the required two runs from the last ball, as his partner Guptill was run out while taking the second run on the non-striking end.
A jubilant England coach and other teammates entered the ground as soon as Guptill was run out by Jofra Archer in an attempt to take the second run from the last ball of the super, knowing they had won the match on technical grounds.
Ben Stokes was declared Man of the Match, first for his 88 runs that level the score with New Zealand, and then his knock in the super over.
New Zealand skipper, Kane Williamson was declared Man of the Tournament for scoring over 500 runs in the championship and his “sportsmanship”. .
“It was a fantastic contest. I congratulate the England team for winning the world cup”, a visibly exhausted Williamson said while receiving the runners up trophy.
“I am proud of boys. I am proud of him [Ben Stokes] for all his efforts. He has been phenomenal today,” elated England skipper Eoin Morgan said seconds before he lifted the glittering trophy amid huge applauds from celebrating spectators.
“The country waited for this moment for a long”, he said as the fellow players clapped.
Team Line-ups:
England: Jason Roy, Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root, Eoin Morgan (capt), Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler(wk), Chris Woakes, Liam Plunkett, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood
New Zealand: Martin Guptill, Henry Nicholls, Kane Williamson (capt), Ross Taylor, James Neesham, Tom Latham (wk), Colin de Grandhomme, Mitchell Santner, Matt Henry, Trent Boult, Lockie Ferguson
BY ANADOLU AGENCY
