New Zealand hearts were broken in a super-over thriller at Lord’s which saw England lift their first ever World Cup Trophy, writes Khalid Mohidin.
“Winning or losing the toss doesn’t really bother me.” Those were Eoin Morgan’s words after he lost the toss. This could have been perceived as overconfidence, but his bowlers backed up his belief in their ability.
As a result, England restricted New Zealand to 241-8 by bowling as a cohesive unit.
Chris Woakes was the pick of the bowlers. He took advantage of the overhead conditions and found dangerous swing, but ultimately benefitted from maintaining a disciplined line and length. He finished with 3-47 at an economy of 4.11.
Liam Plunkett was equally effective. He was responsible for dismissing two of New Zealand’s key men. First, he took out Kane Williamson for 30 – Williamson finishing the tournament with 578 runs and breaking the record for the most runs by a captain in a World Cup campaign – and then the inform Henry Nicholls who scored a solid 55.
Tom Latham was the next best scorer for the Black Caps with 47 and was responsible for taking New Zealand past 230 before Woakes picked up his wicket.
Jorfra Archer and Mark Wood both contributed with one wicket apiece.
England’s chase of 242 was not as straight forward as some may have expected. New Zealand’s bowling attack, like they did all tournament, executed their game plan with precision and accuracy.
As a result, they knocked England down 86-4 after 23 overs, amazingly stemming the run rate effectively in the process.
Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler strung together their first ever century partnership to take England to 196-4, with a 110-run stand. Lockie Ferguson broke the partnership by dismissing Buttler for a 60-ball 59.
Going into the fifth over, England needed 46 runs.
Stokes continued to keep his side hanging onto the match, they went into the final three overs needing 39 runs.
Ferguson struck again at a crucial time, this time dismissing Woakes for 2. His final spell consisted of six overs, 2-33 to finish with overall figures of 3-50.
This flipped the momentum in favour of New Zealand.
With Stokes at the crease having passed his half-century, it remained anyone’s game but Jimmy Neesham struck to dismiss Plunkett for 10. He followed this with the wicket of Jorfra Archer to take 2-7 in the second last over.
Stokes’ attempt to be the hero continued into the final over. He hit 6, and then the most extraordinary incident happened when Martin Guptill threw the ball into a diving Stokes’ bat after he ran two. The ball ricocheted and raced to the boundary for six more runs.
With 3 runs needed off 2 balls. Rashid was run out for a duck. This took the game to 2 runs off the final ball. They ran another two runs and England the one run necessary one to avoid defeat and level the match. This took the game into a super over.
Stokes hit 8 off 3 balls and Buttler hit 7 off 3 balls to score 15 runs in the super over.
New Zealand, needing 16, only managed 15 in the final over and their World Cup hopes were crushed in the most heart-breaking fashion.
New Zealand lost because England scored more boundaries over 50 overs.
Photo: Cricket World Cup/Twitter
