CWC 2019 Final Recap: What drama! England beat New Zealand 26-17 via boundary count

A Cricket World series, CWC 2019 Recap looks at all the high-octane encounters from the last year's ODI World Cup: from Jofra Archer's bouncers to Rohit Sharma's hundreds and from Mitchell Starc's yorkers to Virat Kohli's antics.

Match Summary

New Zealand 241/8(50 overs) - Henry Nicholls55 (77), Tom Latham47 (56); Chris Woakes3/37(9), Liam Plunkett3/42(10)

England 241(50 overs) - Ben Stokes*84 (98), Jos Buttler59 (60); Lockie Ferguson3/50(10), James Neesham3/43(7)

Result - Match tied (England won Super Over on boundary count)

 Yes, New Zealand had beaten India by 18 runs in the 1st semifinal but England's momentum after beating Australia by 8 wickets was unmatched. On paper as well, the hosts looked much more impressive, and with the home teams having won the 2011 and the 2015 World Cups as well, England were the hot favourites to win the final at Lord's.

The prediction only got more strength when New Zealand could only manage 241 runs from their 50 overs. Henry Nichols and Tom Latham were the top scorers for them but the team could not finish off on a strong note due to some tight bowling from England.

 England struggled to reach the total and as it turned out, after 50 overs, the best they could do was to draw level on the score. If that was not enough, both teams ended up on exactly equal scores in the super over as well and the match had to be decided on the boundary count rule by the margin of 26-17 in the favour of England. 

 New Zealand were at a loss for words as they lost their second consecutive World Cup final and that too, under the most unexpected circumstances.

 England became only the second team, after Pakistan, to win a World Cup despite losing three matches in the tournament. Ben Stokes was named the Player of the World Cup final while Kane Williamson walked away with the Player of the Series, but not much else.

New Zealand v England - ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 - Final, Lord’s, London  14th July 10:30PM, live cricket streaming action and social media match updates #CWC19