BP Special
In the history of ICC World Cup Cricket of the last 44 years, no final was so eventful, so exciting and so unpredictable till the ICC decision came over. And the cricketing world witnessed the nail-biting finale between England and New Zealand on Sunday that was their money’s worth. The historic win by England, overcoming numerous obstacles, has created history itself in the exciting battle for the Cup. It needs to be said that Australia and India came close to taking the ICC World Cup home. And at one stage, on Sunday, New Zealand thought they had got their hands on it. But no one had any idea that this time the coveted Cup was destined to go to England’s camp no matter what odds may happen in the field.
As the Sunday match progressed, amidst a display of brilliant bowling and batting on both sides, it ended with tie with both sides scoring 241 runs. It then went on to tie-breaker called Super Over but that again ended with both teams scoring 15 runs. It so happened that on the final ball of the super over, New Zealand's Martin Guptill ran to score a winning final run but he was stumped by the English wicketkeeper. Thus ended the Super Over with another tie. Finally it was decided by the ICC that England gets the cup for scoring more four runs in the match.
Interestingly, it was for the first time in the 44 years history of World cup final that the winner had to be decided by a super over and subsequently by a boundary count. The rule is not liked by many fans across the world. Some think wickets in hand should have been the deciding factor and not the count of boundaries.
This may be mentioned that after the defeat in the hands of Pakistan in the final in 1992, England played their second final in 27 years. Their other appearances in the finals include the 1979 and 1987 finals, both as runners up. New Zealand played in the second highest number of finals in the World Cup after Australia but they remain without the cup.
The ICC Cricket World Cup is the international championship of One Day International (ODI) cricket. It organizes the four-yearly gala event with teams that qualify the preliminary qualification rounds. The first ever World Cup was held in England in June 1975. The first three World Cups were held in England but since 1987 other playing countries have also been holding the tournament.
A total of twenty teams have played in the eleven editions of the tournament, with fourteen teams competing in 2015. The 2019 World Cup had only ten teams competing.