Cometh the hour, cometh the man. This particular locution defined England’s ICC Cricket World Cup final showing on every front. Right from Ben Stokes hammering a vicious New Zealand pace attack in every direction of the park to Jofra Archer restricting the hard hitters of the game, this final at Lord’s had everything that kept the spectators at the edge of their seat.
Sure, the agony and empathy for New Zealand was felt by every spectator and the neutral alike, but the fact is, there can only be one winner, and that’s England.
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The 2019 Cricket World Cup final will be remembered for ages, and the verity is as simple as you can get. There was little to separate these two nations. The drama which needed a final over spectacle had equal scores on the board after 50 overs and indistinguishable figures even after the Super Over. And this well and truly advocates the supremacy both these teams were carrying.
However, on a day when many said #CricketWon, let the fact sink in that only England did. NOT NEW ZEALAND. Now, we may be censured for toying with the emotions of every cricket fan on this planet who believes nothing separated the two teams, but ask yourself once again. Nothing? Really?
England are a boundary hitting team...NZ are accumulators. In the end, the new brand of English cricket came to their rescue. More boundaries. Investment of four long years paid off...on the biggest night. Well done, England. #CWC19 #EngvNZ
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) July 14, 2019
However extremist one might be to chastise the boundary rule, the fact is that these directives were mandated to every participating nation before the tournament. In simple words, New Zealand knew who they were locking horns with.
Of course, not every World Cup final has culminated through this directive, but you do realize that New Zealand actually qualified for the semi-final on the back of a better Net Run-rate (NRR) than Pakistan, who had equal points in the tally.
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Furthermore, the Kiwis wouldn’t have been here in the very first place if their semi-final bout against India would have been washed out. If that was the case, Virat Kohli’s men would have progressed on the back of their superior standing on the table. Does that seem completely logical?
Maybe so…
There will be endless arguments over the rules. #NewZealand should have prevailed, many will say. Others will say #England were consistent over a longer period, and even beat NZ in the league stages. We lament, agonise, love, and lose. This is cricket #ENGvsNZ #CWC19Final
— Arun Venugopal (@scarletrun) July 14, 2019
As for England, they were dominant in every aspect for that matter.
- Better head-to-head record in this World Cup
- A superior position in the league table
- Better NRR in league stage as well as in knock-outs
- Number of wickets lost in Super Over
- Boundaries hit in the regular game as well as in the Super Over
However, one cannot deny that luck indeed played its bit part in affecting the course, but sports can be cruel at times, and on Sunday, New Zealand were the victims.
Feature image courtesy: AFP / Glyn Kirk
