A shattered and devastated New Zealand captain Kane Williamson rued the unfortunate overthrow in the last over that eventually turned the epic final in England's favour, saying he hoped the incident would never happen in such moments again.
A shattered and devastated New Zealand captain Kane Williamson rued the unfortunate overthrow in the last over that eventually turned the epic final in England's favour, saying he hoped the incident would never happen in such moments again.
In a high drama encounter on Sunday night, the pendulum swung viciously in the final over with England needing nine from three balls when Ben Stokes hit Trent Boult to the deep. The return throw from Martin Guptill hit Stokes' bat as he dived to make his ground for the second run, with the ball rebounding to the rope for additional four runs.
It impacted the equation to the extent that the heart-stopping contest stretched to the Super Over and eventually the hosts lifted their maiden World Cup trophy at the iconic Lord's here.
Dear @ICC Time to Introspect on this. #CricketRules #CWC19Finals #NZvsENG #ENGvsNZ pic.twitter.com/FjNlT1WT7g
— amit dadhich (@amit12354) July 15, 2019
1. It was a shame: Williamson
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"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," Williamson said.
"The New Zealand side showed a great amount of heart to get us to this point, but it just wasn't meant to be. The guys are shattered at the moment - it is devastating. It's pretty tough to swallow at this stage. But a fantastic effort from our guys," said the skipper.
"We thought runs on the board - we would have liked 10-20 more. But in a World Cup final this was a competitive total. The bowlers really put the batsmen under pressure. It had to go down to the last ball, and then the last ball of the next little match, but a great match all round," he said.
"There were so many moments that could've gone either way, but congratulations to England - they've had an incredible campaign and they deserve it."
2. Apologised to Williamson: Stokes
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Stokes later apologised to New Zealand for that lucky unintentional touch.
"In the last over when the ball hit the bat and went for four - I apologised to Kane (Williamson) for that." Williamson, who was adjudged the player of the tournament for scoring 578 runs and for his brilliant captaincy, said they were a few runs short.
He said later: “I said to Kane I'll be apologising for that for the rest of my life. It was not the way I wanted to do it.. the ball going off my bat like that.. I apologised to Kane," Ben Stokes said.
3. England win in first Super Over
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The ICC Men's Cricket World Cup final witnessed a first-ever super-over in which England came out triumphant as they had scored more boundaries in the match to lift their maiden 50-over World Cup on Sunday at Lord's Cricket Ground.
The winner could not be decided as both the normal 50 overs and super-over action ended up in a tie.
In the super over, England scored 15 runs and they were able to restrict New Zealand to 15 runs, and they won the match as they had scored more boundaries in the match.
In the 50-over spell, both England and New Zealand registered scores of 241.
Chasing a below-par target of 242, opener Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow started scoring for England.
Roy (17) built a 28-run brief stand with Bairstow before he was caught behind the stump by Tom Latham in the sixth over. Matt Henry struck early for New Zealand.
Joe Root came to bat at number three and he along with Bairstow, stitched a 31-run partnership. Root (7) searched for the release shot and instead edged de Grandhomme behind in the 17th over. Tom Latham ended up taking a simple catch.
