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New Zealand cricket fans suffered through the night as their team fell excruciatingly short of victory at Lord’s
They emerged tired and emotional in the predawn light. They shuffled from living room couches or from the New Zealand bars lucky enough to organise short-notice liquor licences. Then, they went back to their Monday mornings.
No teacher or manager in the whole country would be naive enough to believe them if they said they had come down with the flu. They would have to wear their decision to stay up all night and watch the most thrilling cricket World Cup final ever played.
This was the most astonishing, fortuitous, preposterous climax to any cricket match I’ve witnessed, let alone a World Cup final. Only the Kiwis could have coped so graciously with the manner of their defeat in the most riveting final this tournament has ever witnessed. At the end of it England emerged as World Cup winners for the first time. It is hard to believe how they managed it. We had better start at the end.
The game had been gripping throughout. But in the final over it had more twists and turns than a Hitchcock thriller. England needed 15 runs to win from the last over, which was bowled by Trent Boult. Ben Stokes was on strike with two wickets remaining.
England have beaten Australia by eight wickets to go into the Cricket World Cup final where they will play New Zealand on Sunday at Lord’s.
The defending champions had teetered to 14 for three after deciding to bat first, with England exploiting the early seam movement on offer at Edgbaston, before Jofra Archer bloodied Alex Carey’s jaw with a vicious bumper.
11th over: England 68-1 (Roy 29, Root 38) Rabada isn’t bothering Root at all here, the England No3 meeting a full ball with a glorious straight blade, his on-drive crashing into the advertising boards in front of the photographers. Shot of the day so far. He backs it up with a couple to midwicket before giving Roy a go. Gosh, he’s nearly chopped on a full toss! The England opener would normally put one of those on the Moon but instead, the inside edge nearly floors him off his pad.
I kid you not, between overs there is a guy under the Bedser Stand playing an electric guitar shaped as a cricket bat. The ICC love having a frolic with this stuff at their global events. If this fella is a feature throughout the touranment across the country, he’ll be a cult hero in six weeks time. I’ll make damn sure of it.
10th over: England 60-1 (Roy 28, Root 31) Pretorious got the nod as the all-rounder in this South African XI today and he’s on for the final over of the power play. The set England pair take five from it, all in 1s and 2s. Roy tries to load up at one stage but can’t make contact. After losing YJB first ball, they’d be happy with an even 60 from 60 out of the first ten. Now to see if they can keep the tempo up through the middle overs with the field back, something they’ve made a habit of late.