Fantasy cricket

Rohit Mahajan  

London, july 14

England are the new champions of 50-over cricket. New Zealand lost the final, but they’re not losers by any stretch of imagination.

At 7.29PM today came the moment England had been waiting for 44 years. New Zealand, too, had been waiting for 44 years for their first World Cup title — for them, the wait must continue for at least another four years.

Lord’s had the privilege of holding the final the 12th World Cup really really deserved, with England winning in the Super Over, after the match had ended in a tie after 102 overs of struggle that was fascinating, nerve-wracking and deadline-shredding. After 50 overs each, the two teams had ended up with 240 runs each. After six balls each of the Super Over, the two teams had 15 runs each. It was a tie, yet again! That had to be broken, and it was broken by comparing the number of boundaries hit by the two teams — and England beat New Zealand on that count.

Super tie!

New Zealand needed 16 in the Super Over, and Jimmy Neesham struck Jofra Archer’s second ball for a huge six over deep midwicket. Now ‘only’ seven needed off four balls… Easy, right? No, not in the nerve-shredding cauldron at Lord’s rocked by songs, shouts and cheers of the home fans.

But then Archer bowled two tight balls that earned Neesham only four runs - three needed off two balls of the Super Over. Neesham could get only a single next ball, and that put Martin Guptill on strike. Guptill managed to send the ball squirting down to deep midwicket — the second run wasn’t on, but Guptill and Neesham just had to go for it. The throw came, wicketkeeper Jos Buttler dived down to gather the ball and managed to keep his cool and break the stumps. Champions!

Stokes to the fore

Ben Stokes was the Man of the Match, Man of the Year, possibly the Man of a Whole Two Generations of English fans desperate for glory at the World Cup.

“Stokesey, Stokesey, Stokesey…” chanted the strongly partisan home crowd, and Stokesey did see them through.

In a tense chase of New Zealand’s 241, Stokes had made a brilliant 84 off 98 balls, keeping England alive in the Super Over, in which he managed to score 14 runs for his team to tie the score. Then, batting first in the Super Over, he made eight off the three balls he faced, while Jos Buttler added seven off three. That took England to 15 runs in the Super Over, and New Zealand had the job of overhauling it. They tried their best. They failed. But New Zealand didn’t lose, surely.

Close tie

“Sing it!” ordered the voice of Freddie Mercury to the crowd over the public address system, and the fans duly obeyed, singing “We Will We Will Rock You!” Both New Zealand and England fans sang the song - both believed that it was their own team that was going to “rock you”, it was that close.

Who in the heavens could have thought that the final would be contested with a low score of 241? England were the favourites, but they were expected to steamroll New Zealand. Who could have thought that the super-polite, soft-spoken men from New Zealand would nearly snatch it from the favourites.

Revival

England were in trouble at 86/4 in the 24th over, when captain Eoin Morgan was dismissed as he attempted to hit a six to break the Kiwi stranglehold. Buttler came in then, and he and Stokes shepherded England, Stokes with caution, Buttler with powerful strokes. They added 110 runs in 21.4 overs before Buttler fell, just when it seemed that they would see England through. But the drama was just building up.

Final

England needed 15 off the final over. Boult to Stokesey — first two ball, no runs, as a yorker and a drive straight to a fielder kept Stokes down to 0 from the over. “Two sixers will do the job!” shouted an England fan, but the probability of that seemed remote after two dot balls.

Then the improbable happened, in the most weird of ways. It was do or die, then. The next ball was slower and Stokes spotted it — he bent his left knee to the ground, swung his might bat with mighty power and connected beautifully; the ball looped up and away, in an arc that sent the English supporters into paroxysm of happiness; at the midwicket boundary, the fielder placed himself close to edge of the field and looked up if the ball could come to hand — it didn’t, it soared over him and into the crowd.

Next ball, Stokes struck the full-toss to Martin Guptill at the midwicket boundary; Guptill ran hard to his right, gathered the ball and sent it flying towards the wicketkeeper; Stokes, running towards the striker’s end, the danger end, dived full length; the throw from Guptill was on the way to the wicketkeeper Tom Latham, but then Stokes’ bat intervened accidentally — the ball hit it and went to the boundary. Four overthrows, six runs in all. Amazing.

Three needed off two balls: Stokes drove to long-off, only one run available, but Stokes went for the second to keep the strike, Adil Rashid was run-out at the non-striker’s end. Two needed off one ball — that’s what cricket’s biggest prize had come down to. Stokes drove down the ground again, and again only one run was to be had, but he had to run for the tournament-winner, the trophy-winner. Mark Wood, the non-striker, dived, fell short, and was out — England 10 wickets down, but the scores equal! Time for the Super Over.

In London, not too far away, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic were separated by a tie-breaker in the Wimbledon final.

What a day! What a thriller! 

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England in ICC events 

WINNERS: ODI WORLD CUP (2019)

WINNERS: WORLD T20 (2010)

RUNNERS-UP: ODI WORLD CUPS (1979, 1987, 1992) 

RUNNERS-UP: CHAMPIONS 

TROPHY (2004, 2013) 

RUNNERS-UP: WORLD T20 (2016) 

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242England’s target to win the World Cup final. They had faltered thrice while chasing in World Cup final: 286 vs WI in 1979 (194) in 60 overs; 253 vs Aus in 1987 (246); and 249 vs Pak in 1992 (227) 

1 ST Time in 23 years a new world champion (England) other than India and Australia. Last time, it happened on 17 March 1996 when Sri Lanka won the World Cup title at Lahore for the first time

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Congratulations to England on a fantastic campaign. It was a shame that the ball hit Stokes’ bat, but I just hope it doesn’t happen in moments like that. I don’t wish to nitpick, just hope it never happens in such moments ever again— Kane Williamson, 

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Most wins in 2019 World Cup

 8 England

 7 India, Australia

Fewest losses

 2 India

 3 Australia, England, Pakistanplayer of the tournament

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There wasn’t a lot in that game, jeez. I’d like to comisserate with Kane. The fight, the spirit they showed. I thought it was a hard, hard game. This has been a four-year journey, we’ve developed a lot over those years, particularly the last two. To get over the line today means the world to us. — Eoin Morgan, England captain

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241/8New Zealand’s total  is the joint-lowest first innings total in World Cup finals when batting all the overs. Australia scored 241/8 in their 50 overs in 1996 final vs SL and lost

110Runs by Stokes-Buttler stand, the highest for fifth wicket or lower in chases in World Cup finals 

3Maiden overs in a row by New Zealand. No team in this World Cup had bowled 3 maidens in entire innings against England before