ICC Cricket World Cup - May/July 2019

[CerealKiller]

...If you're a New Zealand fan, if you're an England fan those odd moments add to the occasion, heck even if you're neutral.

I think for NZ fans it just increases the size of the heartbreak
But yeah, what happens, happens. The rule still should be changed though

 

[wasteyouryouth]

I guess everyone will be changing their game of the tournament and moment of the tournament (half a dozen in this game) after that.

 

[Trex99]

Will this triumph attract the majority of the English football fan crowd?? Back at champions trophy 2004 barely anyone cared about it since it was conducted during the pl season. Also in the earlier england home games (except the india one) you could see a lot of empty seats.

 

[Yorkshireman]

England had that under control.

 

[LiveLoveABD]

My heart goes out to Kane and Trent. As I said before the start, I'd either be feeling for Joss's and Ben or the two blokes I mentioned but that was a bit too much for the losing side to take. Really feel for the Kiwis. Really do.

I don't know btw who comes up with these MOS award judges but for me, it was slam dunk belonging to only one man from Bangladesh.

 

[Bevab]

Still at a loss for words to explain what has just happened.

In terms of overall preparation during the last four years by building, managing and backing a team, England absolutely deserve to win the trophy. They took McCullum’s prototype and fully fleshed it out. This is a win for proper squad building and organization as a whole and shows that any team can dramatically improve their results and style if they are willing to work on it from the fundamentals.

I’ve already praised Morgan, Fabrace and Bayliss for building this wonderful side, but forgot to credit Strauss whose role was vital in all of this. Giles might sit on the throne now, but we all know that Strauss was the real architect behind all of this.

Also pointed out right at the start of the tournament that Stokes was something special in the way he absolutely values his wicket with his life unlike most of the other players in this team and he has proven to be a player of the highest class today. That game three years ago has truly driven him to such elite levels of performance mentally. Plunkett became increasingly vital as pitches started drying and becoming slower later on and it took courage from Morgan to drop an all-rounder in Ali for another bowler. The only missing piece in the puzzle was the way in which their openers would often lose their wickets too early by playing rash shots which led to more pressure on the rest of them. Still believe that Roy shouldn’t be opening in test whites come August, but he has altered his game to also be a lot more comfortable playing a few dot balls and rotating the strike without risks. Can’t see Hales getting back into this side in the near future.

Tough luck to NZ, they weren’t on the same level as England in terms of talent but compensated for that with pure grit and passion. Most other teams would have just totally given up at various points during the last two games and yet barring a few humane errors, their fielding and bowling has been top notch and they competed till the very final ball of the superover. If only they had Guptill and Roscoe in form and Nicholls playing right from the start of the tournament, their batting would have been a lot more stronger.

Edit - There also needs to be some rule changes in ODIs, starting with the number of reviews being increased to two and more LBWs being referred upstairs like contentious catches by the umpire rather than teams. Further, one over after a tie shouldn’t decide the fate of a 50 over game, we need something fairer like extra time in football, a five over game perhaps? With an over added if there’s still an unlikely tie? The bit with bat of God should also change, the ball could probably be declared dead once such incidents happen.

Also hope that this game revives interest in England and ensures that the Kiwis get more international games from now on with a lot more tests.

 

[CerealKiller]

Unless Alex Hales is high on weed right now, i don't know how he is coping with the fact that he threw away a World Cup gold medal

 

[wasteyouryouth]

Unless Alex Hales is high on weed right now, i don't know how he is coping with the fact that he threw away a World Cup gold medal

Maybe Liam Dawson will let him touch his.

 

[aditya123]

I`m gutted and not even a lifelong NZ fan. This is cruel. This week has been one for the ages in sporting history and yet the most draining week in my life as a sports fan.

 

[Punk_Sk8r]

Will this triumph attract the majority of the English football fan crowd?? Back at champions trophy 2004 barely anyone cared about it since it was conducted during the pl season. Also in the earlier england home games (except the india one) you could see a lot of empty seats.

No that will never happen, a few people will get the cricket bug but in UK cricket is seen more as a pompous sport to be honest and on top of that football is just too big. This will just get more kids playing the sport which is good!

@aditya123 Yeah I'm glad it's over now, the whole world cup I mean 6 weeks or whatever it is I think is too long! but everything about cricket is long...even getting the cup in Morgans hands took so long like wtf, in football they get the cup in the players hands pretty quick!

 

[wasteyouryouth]

If anyone cares what I think, I'm still trying to process what I saw today, so I need to get it out somewhere.

I never thought I'd see something as good as the 1999 semi final, which I was lucky to be at, but that game today surpassed it by some distance. It was bonkers. New Zealand did everything right, Williamson's captaincy was superb, and were it not for the most fortuitous deflection off Stokes' bat we might be congratulating New Zealand. And they would have been deserved winners. I don't know if that moment cost New Zealand the victory, Ben Stokes has it in him to have got another boundary, but it turned the game on its head. Stokes is a champion, as is Buttler, I've always thought the thing that puts England aside is the six match winners in the top six and I always felt that if they made it to the last ten we had a chance. I was a complete bag of nerves by the end of it.

There are other things besides that deflection, Boult stepping on the boundary, Taylor not having a review available. NZ didn't quite have the luck. Had the rules been different they might have won and but both teams deserved to take the trophy home. It's a shame only one could. We'll be seeing plenty of retellings of this game for many, many, many years to come during lunch breaks.

Don't know quite how I feel about the super over finish, it was very exciting, but in ODI cricket it feels a bit too random. I still leapt off my sofa and roared when Buttler completed the run out. I doubt it'll change after the spectacle today but maybe a super powerplay of three overs would be fairer. Or even judging it on wickets lost like they did in the past. Even part of me feels sharing the trophy would be the fairest way to do it if they can't be separated after 50 overs and a super over. Anyway, those are probably debates for another time. I'm sure there have been more exciting finishes (I can't think of any) but none on this stage. It was remarkable.

 

[aditya123]

No that will never happen, a few people will get the cricket bug but in UK cricket is seen more as a pompous sport to be honest and on top of that football is just too big. This will just get more kids playing the sport which is good!

@aditya123 Yeah I'm glad it's over now, the whole world cup I mean 6 weeks or whatever it is I think is too long! but everything about cricket is long...even getting the cup in Morgans hands took so long like wtf, in football they get the cup in the players hands pretty quick!

I almost broke down after Guptill got run out. I started this WC saying I don`t feel the same about the sport anymore but this week got reminded of how defeats hurt. The Indian side sleepwalking through wins in the last 3 years in endless bilaterals got me numb. But I`ve felt emotional this week. All this despite the crappy format! I honestly did not believe I`d see another game like the 99 WC SF and the raw feeling of despair. NZ deserved to be on that podium. Stokes' deflection will be cricket's hand of God. Also, the 2 games this week (SF1 and Final) have shown how the game gets lifted given an occassion!

Will feel like there is a huge void in life starting tomorrow. Cricket, you beauty!

 

[swacker]

A terrible rule for England to win on the boundary count! In my whole life of watching cricket, this is just heartbreaking. Although being an English fan, I think New Zealand deserves the cup.

And that 2 which went for 6 of Stoke's bat. Worst thing to ever happen, given the position New Zealand were.

 

[StrongAsAnOx]

I almost broke down after Guptill got run out. I started this WC saying I don`t feel the same about the sport anymore but this week got reminded of how defeats hurt. The Indian side sleepwalking through wins in the last 3 years in endless bilaterals got me numb. But I`ve felt emotional this week. All this despite the crappy format! I honestly did not believe I`d see another game like the 99 WC SF and the raw feeling of despair. NZ deserved to be on that podium. Stokes' deflection will be cricket's hand of God. Also, the 2 games this week (SF1 and Final) have shown how the game gets lifted given an occassion!

Will feel like there is a huge void in life starting tomorrow. Cricket, you beauty!

A terrible rule for England to win on the boundary count! In my whole life of watching cricket, this is just heartbreaking. Although being an English fan, I think New Zealand deserves the cup.

And that 2 which went for 6 of Stoke's bat. Worst thing to ever happen, given the position New Zealand were.

Utter nonsense. The ‘hand of God’ was used by a cheat to try and legitimise his foul play. What happened in this game was terrible luck from a NZ perspective. Stokes apologised and wouldn’t have run, it was on,y because it ended up going for a boundary we’re having this debate.

There were lots of chances for NZ to tie this game up before that but they didn’t - no matter how brilliantly they bowled a fielded. England won this game fair and square and I’ll celebrate it it long and hard. I really wish the opponents were someone other than NZ who I think have been a great team throughout this World Cup and all credit to them and KW for the clever cricket they have played.

The dullest 50 over game turned into the ultimate cracker. No, it’ll never replace football but for us cricket fans, today was special and will always remain so.

 

[Velocity]

Honestly, I really do feel NZ got really hard down by. In a way, it's fair to say they were very unlucky today with that deflection being the biggest of them all. Had that ball not touched Stokes, NZ had that cup in their hands. That too, the boundary count rule really is a load of bs IMO. I think if the boundary count thing should only apply if this match was a T20 as boundaries play a bigger part in that form of the game. I think it would've been proper to settle the game based on who held the least wickets in hand and declare them as the winner, as the ODI format is more than just hitting boundaries and rather keeping wickets in hand. In that case, NZ would've come up top with having 8 wickets in hand at the end of their innings vs England all out at the end of 50 overs. That Super Over result was just so brutal, and you could tell when you personally feel the pain and agony even if it's not the first team you support. I think even anyone who really hates the BlackCaps would feel at least some sort of sympathy for them.

I guess that's what makes cricket a beautiful sport, when you have heartbreak colliding with triumph creating a whole new level of drama and tension that emanates through a crowd of people.

This is not to say of course, that England did not deserve to win. Stokes and Buttler battled it out on that two paced pitch, and credit goes to them. More importantly, this is perfect for someone like Eoin Morgan who put work into building this team from rock bottom, and it's a perfect way to celebrate his efforts as well. Congrats England and to the English fans enjoy this victory.