The BEST One Day International of all time. Yes. Agony and sadness in Kiwi camp, joy, and happiness in English camp. A World Cup winner decided with a super overrule, and that too was not enough. Yes, even the super over was a tie, and the team scored the most number of boundaries was declared the winners.
New Zealand won the toss and decided to bat first in the pressure game, the World Cup Final at Lord’s, a dicey decision in overcast condition. They started cautiously, with some miss and hits, lost Guptill early on just like in previous games. He was caught in front of the wicket and adjudged LBW, and with him, New Zealand also lost their only review.
Williamson and Nicholls batted for 16 overs for their partnership of 74 runs. When it looked like all was set for the Kiwis, they lost their premium batsman and captain Williamson. It was a significant setback for them as he was the one who was scoring runs consistently and big. The next most experienced, Ross Taylor also got out for cheaply, had there was a review left, he would have survived the LBW call. The wicket fell on regular intervals, and New Zealand could score only 241 runs in their 50 overs. Chris Woakes and Liam Plunkett bowled beautifully and took three wickets each.
England, unlike their usual start, lost Jason Roy early. That made them struggle throughout the innings. New Zealand bowlers bowled wicket to wicket and didn’t let England score freely, and got three quick wickets in the middle overs. Struggling at 86 for 4, Stokes was joined by Buttler; the pair batted sensibly with some brilliant shots in between added 110 runs for the 5th wicket. But as soon as Buttler got out, the match turned into Kiwis’s favor once again. Stokes kept his nerves, scoring runs at one end and losing partners at the other. A catch went for a six; a throw went for a four, luck was in England’s favor, as the match ended in a tie.
Buttler and Stokes scored 15 runs off Boult in the super over. Archer bowled the super over for England, Neesham and Guptill almost pulled off a win when the two scored 14 runs off 5 balls, with 2 runs required off 1 ball, a stoke to mid-wicket, Guptill ran for his life for the second run, but alas, he got run out and England won the World Cup after a tie in the super over on the basis of more boundaries scored.
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- England won the World Cup for the first time.
- This is the first time a World Cup Final was tied.
- The first time a World Cup Final was decided through Super Overs.