World Cup 2019: Stokes, Buttler cook up an English feast!

England players are ecstatic after beating New Zealand via Super Over boundary count in a thrilling ICC World Cup final at Lord's Cricket Ground in London, United Kingdom yesterday. Pic /AFP

London: The cricket world saw a new World Champion and how! There was no doubting that both England and New Zealand were desperate to win the World Cup. So much so, that the eventual winner was decided via a Super Over - first ever in the 50-over format - after both teams were tied on 241 at the end of 50 overs. But even that ended in a tie.

England were eventually ended on the winning side for scoring more boundaries (26) than New Zealand (17) in the match.

Redemption time

Exactly 11 months ago, Ben Stokes was found not guilty of affray. Then, the flamboyant all-rounder was in the news for all the wrong reasons. However, yesterday, Stokes could not have asked for a better stage than the World Cup final here at Lord's to showcase his steely abilities. And he delivered. Stokes (84 not out) and Jos Buttler (59) pulled England out of danger - from 86-4 to ensure the scores were tied with that of New Zealand's, at 241-8 - to take the match into the Super Over.

In the Super Over, Stokes and Buttler added 15 runs for England. Eventually, New Zealand's Martin Guptill and Jimmy Neesham matched the England score but lost by the finest of margins - boundary count.

For New Zealand born-Stokes, whose father was backing the Kiwis to clinch the title, it was redemption time ever since the brawl in a Bristol pub last year. Stokes first steadied the ship with Buttler after putting a 110-run partnership for the fifth wicket. The southpaw then batted sensibly to take the team through.

Earlier, after a 15-minute delayed start due to wet conditions, it proved to be a tricky decision as New Zealand captain Kane Williamson opted to bat. England pacers Chris Woakes and Jofra Archer set the tone for the hosts, engaging NZ skipper Williamson in an interesting battle. Making full use of the overcast conditions and some assistance from the pitch, Woakes and Archer teased and troubled Williamson, who consumed 11 balls to score his first run and struggled thereafter too. Woakes bowled mostly full-length stuff and the movement off the pitch beat Williamson on most occasions.

Also Read: World Cup 2019: Fans are excited about the England-New Zealand clash

Archer varied his pace. At one stage, Williamson was stuck on two off 22 balls, even as he tried to hang in there while opener Henry Nicholls kept the scoreboard ticking. Slowly and steadily, they put on a crucial 74-run stand for the second wicket after losing Martin Guptill early, leg-before to Woakes for 19.

Williamson struggles

Williamson's struggles eventually ended when he was declared out caught-behind via the Decision Review System [DRS] when he tried to drive Liam Plunkett (3-42), only managing a faint edge instead.

Plunkett also dismissed Nicholls (55) and Jimmy Neesham (19). With the England pacers hardly giving any free runs to the NZ batsmen, Tom Latham (47 off 56 balls), who was extremely watchful in the beginning, tried to take the attack to leggie Adil Rashid (8-0-39-0) and Stokes (3-0-20-0). The Kiwis eventually managed 241-8 which didn't seem enough for the power-packed England batting line-up.

Figure trigger

One
New Zealand's Kane Williamson has now scored 1393 runs in England - the most by any visiting batsman on English soil in ODIs, surpassing Australian Ricky Ponting (1387)

578
No. of runs Williamson has scored to become the highest run-scoring captain in a single World Cup edition, surpassing Sri Lanka's Mahela Jayawardene (548 in 2007)

20
No. of wickets taken by pacer Jofra Archer is the most by any English bowler in a single World Cup edition

110
Partnership between Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes is the highest fifth-wicket stand by any pair v NZ in World Cups

Brief scores

NZ 241-8 (H Nicholls 55, T Latham 47; C Woakes 3-37, L Plunkett 3-42) lost to England 241 (B Stokes 84', J Buttler 59; J Neesham 3-43, L Ferguson 3-50) via Super Over on boundary count.

Also Read: World Cup 2019: England create history, win World Cup 2019 in Super Over Thriller

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