England Lift ICC World Cup 2019
Hosts and favourites England capped a 44-year wait to bring home the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup with a Super-Over victory over New Zealand in a nerve-wracking finale at Lord’s on Sunday night, led by their best player in the tournament, Ben Stokes.
With scores tied at 241 runs apiece after both teams had batted the regulation 50 overs each; England posted a 16-run target for New Zealand with Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler putting on 15 runs in the Eliminator over.
In reply, New Zealand once again ensured scores were at levels thanks to Jimmy Neesham and Martin Guptill, but the hosts were declared winners on the basis of more boundaries in their innings. Overall, England had 22 boundaries in their 50 overs against 14 achieved by New Zealand.
For the winning team, World Cup debutant Jofra Archer bowled a controlled six deliveries that did not allow the rival batsmen to take too many risks against him.
It was a dramatic and emotional end to a tournament that spanned seven weeks and needed 48 matches to decide. England finally broke a long-standing jinx to win their fourth final after losing in the 1979, 1987 and 1992 editions.
For New Zealand, it was heart-break after they had equalled Australia’s record of qualifying for eight ICC World Cup semi-finals and eliminated India, one of the favoured teams at the event in the semi-finals.
Struggling at 86 for the loss of four wickets in 23.1 overs, after New Zealand had opted to bat first and posted 241 for eight in their 50 overs, England needed a 110-run fifth-wicket partnership between all-rounder Stokes who scored an unbeaten 84 and Jos Buttler’s 60-ball 59 to sustain their challenge.
New Zealand owe their total to contributions of 55 from opening batsman Henry Nichols and a brisk 47 from wicketkeeper-batsman Tom Latham. For England, fast bowlers Chris Woakes and Liam Plunket took three wickets apiece.
Interestingly, tournament top scorer India’s Rohit Sharma with 648 runs and second placed Australia’s David Warner with 647 both were in a position to break Sachin Tendulkar’s all-time record of 673 runs at a single World Cup. Both however were dismissed cheaply in their respective losing semi-finals which meant that the landmark continues to belong to India’s batting icon.
However, Sharma did break the record for most hundreds in a single World Cup tournament with his five centuries.
One individual record though was rewritten, fast bowler Mitchell Starc improving on fellow-Australian paceman Glenn McGrath’s mark of 28 wickets by one to finish as the most successful bowler of the 2019 ICC World Cup with 29 scalps.
Earlier, both former champions India and Australia were eliminated in the semi-finals. Five time winners Australia were decimated by eight wickets by England, with the defending title holders being bowled out cheaply and unable to contain the rampant home team’s batsmen thereafter.
A day earlier, the Kiwis comprehensively beat tournament co-favourites India. The two time champions India had no answers for a determined New Zealand and capitulated by 18 runs in a match they were on the back foot for the most part and had to come back on the reserve day to complete.
Of the six teams that were eliminated after league play, Pakistan was the most impressive, while Afghanistan won hearts wherever they played. Pakistan missed thanks to an inferior run rate in qualifying for the semi-finals but had the consolation of beating both finalists, New Zealand by six wickets and England by 16 runs.
South Africa and the West Indies continued to disappoint their supporters and the wider cricket fraternity. The Proteas just could not get their campaign off the ground but had the consolation of beating defending champions Australia in their final league match.
All in all, it was a tournament to remember with the four best teams going through to the semi-finals, from where the two winners carried on to battle for the glittering World Cup trophy at Lord’s. And fittingly, it needed an extraordinary twist of events to decide the eventual champions on a sunny English evening at the spiritual home of cricket.
With scores tied at 241 runs apiece after both teams had batted the regulation 50 overs each; England posted a 16-run target for New Zealand with Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler putting on 15 runs in the Eliminator over.
In reply, New Zealand once again ensured scores were at levels thanks to Jimmy Neesham and Martin Guptill, but the hosts were declared winners on the basis of more boundaries in their innings. Overall, England had 22 boundaries in their 50 overs against 14 achieved by New Zealand.
For the winning team, World Cup debutant Jofra Archer bowled a controlled six deliveries that did not allow the rival batsmen to take too many risks against him.
It was a dramatic and emotional end to a tournament that spanned seven weeks and needed 48 matches to decide. England finally broke a long-standing jinx to win their fourth final after losing in the 1979, 1987 and 1992 editions.
For New Zealand, it was heart-break after they had equalled Australia’s record of qualifying for eight ICC World Cup semi-finals and eliminated India, one of the favoured teams at the event in the semi-finals.
Struggling at 86 for the loss of four wickets in 23.1 overs, after New Zealand had opted to bat first and posted 241 for eight in their 50 overs, England needed a 110-run fifth-wicket partnership between all-rounder Stokes who scored an unbeaten 84 and Jos Buttler’s 60-ball 59 to sustain their challenge.
New Zealand owe their total to contributions of 55 from opening batsman Henry Nichols and a brisk 47 from wicketkeeper-batsman Tom Latham. For England, fast bowlers Chris Woakes and Liam Plunket took three wickets apiece.
Interestingly, tournament top scorer India’s Rohit Sharma with 648 runs and second placed Australia’s David Warner with 647 both were in a position to break Sachin Tendulkar’s all-time record of 673 runs at a single World Cup. Both however were dismissed cheaply in their respective losing semi-finals which meant that the landmark continues to belong to India’s batting icon.
However, Sharma did break the record for most hundreds in a single World Cup tournament with his five centuries.
One individual record though was rewritten, fast bowler Mitchell Starc improving on fellow-Australian paceman Glenn McGrath’s mark of 28 wickets by one to finish as the most successful bowler of the 2019 ICC World Cup with 29 scalps.
Earlier, both former champions India and Australia were eliminated in the semi-finals. Five time winners Australia were decimated by eight wickets by England, with the defending title holders being bowled out cheaply and unable to contain the rampant home team’s batsmen thereafter.
A day earlier, the Kiwis comprehensively beat tournament co-favourites India. The two time champions India had no answers for a determined New Zealand and capitulated by 18 runs in a match they were on the back foot for the most part and had to come back on the reserve day to complete.
Of the six teams that were eliminated after league play, Pakistan was the most impressive, while Afghanistan won hearts wherever they played. Pakistan missed thanks to an inferior run rate in qualifying for the semi-finals but had the consolation of beating both finalists, New Zealand by six wickets and England by 16 runs.
South Africa and the West Indies continued to disappoint their supporters and the wider cricket fraternity. The Proteas just could not get their campaign off the ground but had the consolation of beating defending champions Australia in their final league match.
All in all, it was a tournament to remember with the four best teams going through to the semi-finals, from where the two winners carried on to battle for the glittering World Cup trophy at Lord’s. And fittingly, it needed an extraordinary twist of events to decide the eventual champions on a sunny English evening at the spiritual home of cricket.
Script: Rahul Banerji, Sports Commentator
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