Over
the years, exciting competitions haven’t always delivered a Final that the preceding
weeks’ performances have deserved. The very first cricket World Cup holds a
special place in my heart, a Lord’s spectacle featuring the best players on the
planet producing thrills and spills from start to finish. But even the 1975
Aussie-Windies showdown couldn’t contrive a conclusion as astonishing as that
of 2019 on the same ground.
Most
people - me included – were anticipating a battle between Archer and Sharma,
Rashid and Kohli, Bumrah and Bairstow, Shami
and Root. Not for the first time, New Zealand upset the applecart with their bowling-led
brand of white-ball cricket, calmly marshalled by batsman-supreme Kane
Williamson.
England
have been smashing scores of 300+ at will but the Black Caps’ highest score at
this tournament was a mere 291, sufficient to beat the West Indies by 5 runs at
Old Trafford. However, Williamson’s side have shown a great ability to defend
such targets thanks to the seam and swing of Trent Boult, Matt Henry, the pacy
Lockie Ferguson and their supporting cast of Neesham, de Grandhomme and
Santner. The semi-final was a case in point. If India couldn’t chase 240,
perhaps England might struggle.
Nevertheless
when Archer, Plunkett et al restricted them to an almost identical 241-8, I
felt that lightning couldn’t possibly strike twice. It’s a well-worn cliché that
matches can turn on an isolated moment. When Trent Boult failed to flick the
ball back to his captain before stepping on the boundary rope, it seemed that
NZ had blown it. And yet they were in the driving seat when Boult again prepared
to bowl the fiftieth over.
An
even more shattering blow came when Ben Stokes’ despairing dive for the crease
inadvertently deflected the ball for four overthrows. Nine from three became three
from two. It was a shattering blow. When the scores finished level and the commentators
announced a Super Over I could barely believe what I was seeing. I’d been
flicking back and forth with BBC1’s Wimbledon coverage all afternoon and the
double-whammy of final set tie-break and Super Over was more than my frazzled
nerves could take. I could only guess at the electricity crackling around the
crowd at Lord’s.
I
won’t repeat the words of a million match reports but needless to say the Super
Over scores were also tied but both teams knew that England had the edge in
terms of the decisive boundary count and the World Cup was finally won by the
home team, ending those 44 years of hurt. And still there was controversy.
Apparently, by the laws of the game, that second run prior to the four
overthrows should not have been allowed. What? Would Stokes have completed two
runs from the final delivery? Knowing two was not enough to win, would he instead
have attempted to launch the leg-stump full-toss into the crowd? We’ll never
know. They’re hardly going to replay the game now!
Like
Djokovic and Federer, both teams had served up a fabulous finale. It wasn’t
about slogging sixes all over St John’s Wood. Instead it was a good
old-fashioned even contest between bat and ball which both nations deserved to
win and neither should have lost. The Swiss tennis superstar was suitably stoic
and generous in defeat, as was Kane Williamson, but losing in such a
desperately tight finish must be tough to take.
Every one of England's
players had contributed to the triumph, and this is still quite a young squad.
What about The Legacy? Let’s hope that England’s victory won’t be instantly
forgotten and trampled over by the Ashes and next year’s IPL. Young boys and
girls need to start playing the game, or stop dropping out in their teens. I only
hope they will have sufficient areas of grass, enough equipment and the
coaching required to develop talent beyond the posh private school fields and
create the conditions required to build a CWC-winning team in 2031.
What
have the ECB done for 2020? Completely abandon 50-over cricket at which England
are now world-beaters and put all their efforts into a city franchise 100-ball
thrash. Unbelievable. At least it will be shown on the Beeb thus guaranteeing much
larger TV audiences than Sky Sports Ashes coverage but what will they be
watching? It won’t be cricket as she is played anywhere else. Give me a game of
100 overs, not two lots of blink-and-miss it 100 balls.
For
now, let’s enjoy England’s success, commiserate with New Zealand’s unlucky
defeat and relive some glorious memories from the past six weeks. In the three
games I attended in Cardiff there were memorable performances by Roy, Shakib,
Henry, Ferguson, Imran Tahir, not to mention the joyous fans of Bangladesh and
Afghanistan. On TV there was fabulous strokeplay from Rohit Sharma, David
Warner, that six-hit mayhem instigated by Eoin Morgan and Malinga’s slingshots
to push England close to an early exit. Mitchell Starc and Jesprit Bumrah
proved again why they are the best bowlers in the world, and Jofra Archer
demonstrated that he may overtake them in the next four years. A great
tournament and a final which will never be forgotten.
Mike’s
Team of the Tournament: Roy (Eng),
Warner (Aus), Shakib al-Hasan (Ban), Rohit Sharma (Ind), Williamson (NZ),
Stokes (Eng), Carey (Aus +), Starc (Aus), Archer (Eng), Bumrah (Ind), Ferguson
(NZ).
(Honourable
mentions to Imran Tahir, Babar Azam, Joe Root, Mohammed Amir and Jimmy
Neesham).
