On This Day In 2019: England Won Cricket World Cup After A Dramatic Final Against New Zealand

News18

14-07-2025

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On this day in 2019, England lifted their maiden World Cup title after a thrilling final against New Zealand that ended in a tied Super Over and a boundary count win.
One of the greatest One-Day Internationals ever contested, the 2019 World Cup final was played on this day at the historic Lord's Cricket Ground. A clash for the ages saw tournament hosts England and the spirited New Zealand collide for ultimate supremacy, with fortunes shifting back and forth in a thrilling Super Over tie that had to be separated by the contentious boundary count law.
Impressive spells from Chris Woakes (3/37) and Liam Plunkett (3/42) helped England restrict New Zealand to 241/8 on a surprisingly dry strip where it took gritty knocks from Henry Nicholls (55) and Tom Latham (47) for the Kiwis to inch over the 240-mark.
New Zealand's Lockie Ferguson (3/50) and James Neesham (3/43) turned the tables on England in an impressive bowling display, leaving them at 4 for 86 before two of the hosts' best players, Ben Stokes (84*) and Jos Buttler (59), brought them back into the contest.
A World Cup title decided by the finest of margins. #CWC19Final pic.twitter.com/iJUO7ElW8L — ICC Cricket World Cup (@cricketworldcup) July 14, 2019
In the most captivating scenes, Stokes kept fighting despite Buttler's dismissal with nearly 50 more runs to get. The allrounder whacked the ball under pressure with a piece of good fortune going his way as Trent Boult dropped him at the ropes.
But New Zealand seemed ahead of the curve and looked set to secure their maiden World Cup title in the final over, where England needed 9 off 3 balls despite Stokes' valiant maximum off Boult on the third ball. This is when the drama unfolded as Stokes hit Boult to the mid-wicket region for an attempted two, but a throw from Martin Guptill ricocheted off his willow and went for four overthrows.
England were given a massive boost by umpire Kumar Dharmasena, who made a rare mistake of interpreting the law incorrectly and handed the hosts six runs, when they should've been given five, since Guptill made his throw when Stokes and his partner Adil Rashid had not yet crossed each other.
Dharmasena later admitted his error on law 19.8 pertaining to overthrows that says, 'If the boundary results from an overthrow or from the wilful act of a fielder, the runs scored shall be any runs for penalties awarded to either side, and the allowance for the boundary, and the runs completed by the batsmen, together with the run in progress if they had already crossed at the instant of the throw or act."
That mistake meant England needed 3 off the last two balls, but successive run-outs of Rashid and No.11 Mark Wood on a pair of attempted twos by Stokes meant that the game was tied, the first ever such instance in a 50-over World Cup final.
As the game headed to the Super Over, Stokes and Buttler once again combined to give England a 15-run cushion facing Boult. From there, the equation was clear for New Zealand. They had to get 16 off 6 balls for the win. Even a tie favoured England as per the tournament's tie-breaking law, as the hosts struck more boundaries than their opponent.
England skipper Eoin Morgan handed pacer Jofra Archer the big responsibility, but halfway through the over it seemed the Kiwis will race to their biggest triumph as a wide, and a two, followed by a brilliant six from left-hander Neesham tilted the scales in their favour.
Neesham continued putting Archer under pressure with a pair of doubles taken on the next two deliveries before giving away the strike to Guptill. With 2 runs required off the last ball, Archer came up with a searing yorker that angled in and cramped Guptill.
Guptill, who opened his front leg a fraction of a second too early, could only tap it to the mid-wicket region.
As he and Neesham made a desperate attempt to get across for the two, Guptill was run out by wicketkeeper Buttler after a perfect throw from the deep.
England won the World Cup by the barest of margins after New Zealand managed to only tie the Super Over. The result raised eyeballs on the controversial boundary count law that was later abolished by the ICC. Since then, teams play multiple super overs to determine the winner in case of successive ties at the international stage.
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