The 2019 World Cup final at Lord’s was one of the most thrilling One-Day Internationals ever. Hosts England and New Zealand, a team known for their never-say-die spirit, fought it out for the title. The game was so close it went to a Super Over and then the boundary count rule.
England restricted New Zealand to 241/8 thanks to Chris Woakes (3/37) and Liam Plunkett (3/42). Henry Nicholls (55) and Tom Latham (47) fought hard to get New Zealand past 240 on a surprisingly dry pitch.
Then New Zealand’s bowlers, Lockie Ferguson (3/50) and James Neesham (3/43) put England under pressure and reduced them to 4 for 86. But Ben Stokes (84*) and Jos Buttler (59) took it upon themselves to get England back in the game.
Even after Buttler was out, Stokes kept pushing, needing nearly 50 more runs. He got lucky when Trent Boult dropped him near the boundary. New Zealand seemed to have the upper hand and were close to winning their first World Cup. England needed 9 runs off the last 3 balls. Stokes then hit a six off Boult. The drama peaked when Stokes hit the ball towards mid-wicket and a throw from Martin Guptill deflected off his bat and went for four overthrows.
Umpire Kumar Dharmasena made a mistake by awarding England six runs instead of five. He later admitted his error which meant England needed 3 runs from the last two balls. But Rashid and Wood were run out trying to get two runs and it was a tie – the first in a 50-over World Cup final.
In the Super Over Stokes and Buttler scored 15 runs off Boult. New Zealand needed 16 to win or a tie to give England the win based on the boundary count rule.
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Jofra Archer bowled the Super Over for England. Neesham hit a six and the pressure was back on England. With 2 runs needed off the last ball Archer bowled a yorker to Guptill who could only hit it to mid-wicket. Guptill was run out by Buttler and England won the World Cup by the narrowest of margins.So the boundary count rule was scrapped and now teams play multiple super overs to decide the winner in case of a tie.
