The 2019 Cricket World Cup Final was a One Day International cricket match played at Lord's in London, on 14 July 2019 to determine the winner of the 2019 Cricket World Cup. It was contested by the runners-up from the previous tournament, New Zealand, and the host nation, England. It was the fifth time Lord's had hosted the Cricket World Cup Final, the most of any ground.
The two teams were tied on 241 runs at the end of the match, resulting in a Super Over being played to break the tie. On the final ball of New Zealand's Super Over, after equalling the 15 runs England managed in their over, Martin Guptill attempted to score the winning run but was run out by Jason Roy and Jos Buttler, meaning the Super Over was also tied. England won on the boundary count-back rule, having scored 26 boundaries to New Zealand's 17, thus becoming Cricket World Cup winners for the first time.
It was the first time a One Day International final match required a Super Over, and subsequently the first and only time it had been decided by a boundary count. The match has been described as one of the greatest and most dramatic in the history of sport, with some analysts describing it as the greatest match in the history of cricket.
Background
The 2019 Cricket World Cup started on 30 May and was hosted by England and Wales. Ten teams played each other once in a round-robin format with the top four teams going through to the semi-finals. Fourth-placed New Zealand beat group winners India in the first semi-final, and England, who finished third in the group, defeated second-placed Australia in the second.
England played in their first final in 27 years, their last appearance coming in 1992, when they were defeated by Pakistan at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Their other appearances in the final were in 1979 against the West Indies at Lord's and 1987 against Australia at Eden Gardens. Despite playing in the second-highest number of finals in the World Cup after Australia, they were yet to win the trophy. New Zealand played in their second final, and also their second in a row. They previously played in the 2015 final but were beaten by Australia.
When England reached the final, demand increased greatly for it to be shown on a free-to-air television channel in the United Kingdom. Rights holders Sky Sports agreed to allow Channel 4, who had the rights to broadcast evening highlights of the tournament, to carry the final in a simulcast (England cricket matches are not compulsory events requiring free-to-air broadcast). However, due to an existing commitment by Channel 4 to cover the 2019 British Grand Prix, the coverage switched to their sister channel More4 during the motor racing, returning to Channel 4 after the Grand Prix had finished. It was the first time an England international match had been broadcast on free-to-air television in the UK since the 2005 Ashes series.
Whichever team won the match would become the first new winner of the World Cup since Sri Lanka's victory in 1996. It was also the first world final with a guaranteed new winner since 1992.
Road to the final
Route to the final RoundOpponentResultGroup stageOpponentResultEngland won by 104 runsMatch 1New Zealand won by 10 wicketsPakistan won by 14 runsMatch 2New Zealand won by 2 wicketsEngland won by 106 runsMatch 3New Zealand won by 7 wicketsEngland won by 8 wicketsMatch 4Match abandonedEngland won by 150 runsMatch 5New Zealand won by 4 wicketsSri Lanka won by 20 runsMatch 6New Zealand won by 5 runsAustralia won by 64 runsMatch 7Pakistan won by 6 wicketsEngland won by 31 runsMatch 8Australia won by 86 runsEngland won by 119 runsMatch 9England won by 119 runsGroup stage 3rd Place TeamQualification396300121.152Advance to semi-finalsFinal group standingsGroup stage 4th Place TeamQualification495301110.175Advance to semi-finalsOpponentResultKnockout stageOpponentResultEngland won by 8 wicketsSemi-finalsNew Zealand won by 18 runs
New Zealand New Zealand retained the majority of the team that reached their maiden World Cup Final as co-hosts in 2015, although Kane Williamson took on the captaincy following Brendon McCullum's retirement. They finished level on 11 points with Pakistan in the round-robin stage (five wins, three losses and one no result after their match against India was interrupted by rain), but took fourth place by virtue of a better net run rate than Pakistan.
In the semi-finals, they were paired with India, who finished first in the round-robin stage. The match was played at Old Trafford in Manchester on 9 July. With New Zealand on 211/5 after 46.1 overs, Williamson having scored 67 and Ross Taylor on the same score at the time, the match was suspended by rain and ultimately play was pushed to the reserve day the next day. Eventually finishing on 239/8, Taylor eventually out for 74, they produced a spirited bowling and fielding performance to leave India 18 runs short. Man of the Match Matt Henry took 3/37, including openers Rohit Sharma and K. L. Rahul caught for just one each and Dinesh Karthik spectacularly caught by James Neesham for 6. Meanwhile, fellow pace bowler Trent Boult had captain Virat Kohli trapped lbw for one and top scorer Ravindra Jadeja caught by Williamson for 77 when a seventh-wicket partnership looked to be swinging the match back in India's favour. Finally, Martin Guptill ran out World Cup-winning captain MS Dhoni for 50 with a direct hit to leave India with just their tail.
England England, by contrast, entered as the top-ranked ODI team after director of cricket and former Ashes-winning captain Andrew Strauss helped orchestrate the national team's white-ball revamp following their bowing out in the group stage in 2015. Only a handful of the players who featured in 2019, including Irish-born captain Eoin Morgan, Test captain Joe Root, wicket-keeper Jos Buttler and bowling all-rounder Chris Woakes, were holdovers from that team, though a good number played in the narrow defeat against the West Indies in the 2016 World Twenty20 Final. Morgan was also the lone remaining member of England's 2010 World Twenty20 champion team – England's only ICC world championship going into this final.
Their campaign was nearly derailed after a loss at Lord's to defending champions and arch-rivals Australia left them having to beat both India and New Zealand to guarantee their semi-final spot. They won both games and finished third in the round-robin stage with 12 points (six wins and three losses out of nine matches). They met group runners-up Australia in the second semi-final at Edgbaston on 11 July and soundly defeated them by 8 wickets to progress to the final. Key moments included Woakes having David Warner caught for 9, Jofra Archer trapping captain Aaron Finch lbw for a golden duck, Buttler running out Australian top scorer and former captain Steve Smith through his legs on 85 and Jason Roy's 85 off 65 as England completed their chase with 107 balls to spare.
Match Match officials
On 12 July 2019, the International Cricket Council (ICC) named Sri Lankan Kumar Dharmasena and South African Marais Erasmus as the on-field umpires, with Australian Rod Tucker as the third umpire, Pakistani Aleem Dar as the reserve umpire and Sri Lankan Ranjan Madugalle named as match referee.
On-field umpires: Kumar Dharmasena (SL) and Marais Erasmus (SA) TV umpire: Rod Tucker (Aus) Reserve umpire: Aleem Dar (Pak) Match referee: Ranjan Madugalle (SL)
Teams and toss Both teams remained unchanged from their semi-final matches; New Zealand decided that the line-up that beat India against the odds would work in their favour in the final, while England's Jason Roy avoided suspension after his show of dissent in their semi-final match against Australia to open the batting for the hosts.
Some early rain slightly delayed the toss, with the match starting at 10:45, 15 minutes later than scheduled. It was feared that the rain would interfere with the match, but it cleared up quickly, although the overcast conditions and wet grass changed the dynamic of the toss. New Zealand won the toss and decided to bat first.
New Zealand innings Martin Guptill and Henry Nicholls opened the innings for New Zealand, with Nicholls scoring his first half-century of the tournament. A further 30 runs from captain Kane Williamson, and 47 from wicket-keeper Tom Latham, helped New Zealand to a total of 241/8 from their 50 overs. Chris Woakes and Liam Plunkett took three wickets each for the hosts.
England innings
Defending a middling score, the New Zealand bowlers bowled effectively, hampering England's top order, with only Jonny Bairstow managing more than a start with 36. With the loss of their top order, England fell to 86/4 in the 24th over; however, a century partnership between Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler for the fifth wicket got them back into the game before Buttler was caught. But with five overs to play, England still required another 46 runs and the bottom order were forced to bat more aggressively. Stokes managed to farm the strike and, more crucially, score runs, leaving England needing 15 to win from the final over, two wickets still in hand. After two dot balls, Stokes hit a six into the stands at deep mid-wicket, bringing their score to 233/8.
From the third-last ball of the final over, Stokes drove the ball into mid-wicket. Guptill fielded the ball and threw it back to the striker's end as Stokes was returning to complete a second run; however, as Stokes dived for the crease, the ball deflected off his bat and to the boundary behind the wicket, resulting in four additional runs being added to the two that Stokes had run. Umpire Dharamsena made an error here in awarding six runs. Law 19.8 states that in case of additional runs from overthrow, the run in progress will only be counted if the batsmen had crossed before the throw was made. This was not the case here and the correct decision should have been to award five runs and have Rashid take the strike. The final two deliveries went for a run each, but England lost their last two wickets going for a second run each time.
Super Over
With the scores tied at 241, the match went to a Super Over. Stokes and Buttler returned to the crease for England to face the bowling of Trent Boult; the pair scored 15 runs without loss, with both batsmen contributing a boundary four. For New Zealand, Guptill and James Neesham went in to face Jofra Archer, needing 16 runs to claim the title. Archer's over started badly, beginning with a wide, and a steady accumulation of runs, along with a six from Neesham off the third ball, left New Zealand needing two from the final delivery. Facing his first ball of the Super Over and the last of the match, Guptill hit the ball to deep mid-wicket and tried to scamper back for the winning run, but Roy's throw in to Buttler was a good one, and Guptill was run out well short of his crease. New Zealand finished with 15 runs, the Super Over tied, but England's superior boundary count (26 to New Zealand's 17) meant they won the World Cup title for the first time in four final appearances. Stokes earned Man of the Match honours with his unbeaten 84, plus eight runs in the Super Over.
Match details
1st innings
Fall of wickets: 1/29 (Guptill, 6.2 ov), 2/103 (Williamson, 22.4 ov), 3/118 (Nicholls, 26.5 ov), 4/141 (Taylor, 33.1 ov), 5/173 (Neesham, 39 ov), 6/219 (De Grandhomme, 46.5 ov), 7/232 (Latham, 48.3 ov), 8/240 (Henry, 49.3 ov)
2nd innings
Fall of wickets: 1/28 (Roy, 5.4 ov), 2/59 (Root, 16.3 ov), 3/71 (Bairstow, 19.3 ov), 4/86 (Morgan, 23.1 ov), 5/196 (Buttler, 44.5 ov), 6/203 (Woakes, 46.1 ov), 7/220 (Plunkett, 48.3 ov), 8/227 (Archer, 49 ov), 9/240 (Rashid, 49.5 ov), 10/241 (Wood, 50 ov)
Super Over
Super Over Bowler Trent Boult Ball Batsman Outcome 1 Ben Stokes 3 2 Jos Buttler 1 3 Ben Stokes 4 4 Ben Stokes 1 5 Jos Buttler 2 6 Jos Buttler 4 Total 15/0