MONDAY, JULY 15, 2019 16 • England lift first Cricket World Cup after super-over England win drama against New Zealand • The Super Over also ended in a tie, and England won their maiden World Cup on maiden title boundary count AFP | London boundaries. After defeats in previous finals ngland won the World against Pakistan in 1992, Austral- Cup for the first time as ia in 1987 and the West Indies in It’s unbelievable. Ethey beat New Zealand 1979, it was a cathartic moment I thought I’d seen in a dramatic Super Over after a for English cricket. nerve-shredding final ended in “My heart is still racing. It’s everything in cricket a tie at Lord’s yesterday. the biggest thing I’ve ever won, but that game was just After Eoin Morgan’s side fin- a great bunch of fellas, a really amazing. I don’t know ished on 241 all out in pursuit of good family to me,” Archer said. what happened out New Zealand’s 241-8, the final Stokes was in tears as Eng - there at the end. Just came down to a six-ball shootout land’s players danced joyously incredible for each team. around the pitch. England’s Ben Stokes and Jos “I’m pretty lost for words. All JOS BUTTLER Buttler took 15 off Trent Boult’s the hard work over four years, to over. get here and be champions of the Jofra Archer bowled Eng - world. It’s an amazing feeling. land’s over against Martin Gup- I’m pretty done,” Stokes said till and Jimmy Neesham, who with an expression that mixed smashed a six off the second ball. elation with bewilderment. With two runs required off the “Playing against New Zealand final ball, wicketkeeper Jos But- is always a great event. They tler and Jason Roy combined to are a seriously good team and run out Guptill as he came back really good lads. I said to Kane for the second. Williamson I’ll be apologising Both sides finished on 15 so for that for the rest of my life.” England won due to a tie-break Morgan and his teammates rule because they hit more were cheered to the rafters by England’s Jos Buttler runs out New Zealand’s Martin Guptill to win the 2019 Cricket World Cup final Champagne super over the ecstatic capacity crowd at the past six weeks, they even- pagne super over. Lord’s as they joined Bobby Following their dismal first tually justified their tag as the While England celebrated, Moore’s 1966 footballers and round exit at the 2015 World bookmakers’ pre-tournament it was another heart-breaking Martin Johnson’s rugby union Cup, England’s then director favourites to win the World Cup. loss for New Zealand, who also team of 2003 as England’s World of cricket Andrew Strauss em- It was not an easy ride for finished as runners-up in the Cup winners. barked on a root-and-branch England, whose defeats against previous World Cup in 2015 “Wow! It’s hard to sum it up, reform of their one-day interna- Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Australia after losing to Australia in the what a day, what a tournament,” tional set-up. in the group stage put them on final. England batsman Joe Root said. Adopting an aggressive game- the brink of elimination. “We knew we would have to “Everyone has done plan under Morgan and Austral- But Morgan’s men kept their fire a few shots. Credit to Eng- everything asked of them. We ian coach Trevor Bayliss, Eng- cool to defeat India and New land for the way they stuck at it,” have performed under pressure, land’s rebuilding plan paid off Zealand and book a last-four New Zealand’s Neesham said. it was almost written in the stars spectacularly. spot before crushing Australia “On another day the coin may for Ben Stokes.” They had already climbed to in the semi-finals and surviv- have fallen our way. We’ll look England’s Ben Stokes (R) and England’s Jos Buttler (L) add runs in the ‘super England’s triumph was the the top of the ODI rankings head- ing one final test of their nerve back in a couple of years and over’ during the 2019 Cricket World Cup final between England and New Zealand culmination of a remarkable rise ing into the tournament and, af- against New Zealand in what say this was a pretty good ex- at Lord’s Cricket Ground in London over the past four years. ter plenty of highs and lows over will be remembered as a cham- perience.” Djokovic retains Wimbledon crown and settled by a final set tiebreak for lasted over two hours. Novak Djokovic beats the first time. “It was long and it had everything. I • Djokovic is the first man in 71 years had answers, so did he and we played Roger Federer in epic match to win the title from match points some great tennis,” said Federer. to win fifth Wimbledon title down. “I hope I give some other people at He is now level with Bjorn Borg as a 37 the feeling it is not over yet.” Djokovic saves match five-time Wimbledon winner. Djokovic’s win meant that the ‘Big points• to claim the title in “I think that if this is not the most Three’ of men’s tennis -- himself, exciting final then definitely it’s in the Federer and Rafael Nadal -- have won record-breaking final top two or three of my career against the last 11 Slams. one of the greatest players of all time, He has now won nine of his last 11 AFP | London Roger, who I respect,” said Djokovic. clashes against Federer and three of “Unfortunately in this type of match their four Wimbledon meetings. ovak Djokovic saved two match someone has to lose. It is quite unreal With William and Catherine, the points to clinch a fifth Wim- to be two match points down to come Duke and Duchess of Cambridge look- Nbledon title and 16th major back and strange to play a tie-break ing on from the Royal Box, Federer yesterday, shattering Roger Federer’s at 12-12.” carved out the only break point of the bid to become the oldest Grand Slam Djokovic is just four Grand Slam opening set. champion in the longest final ever titles shy of the all-time record held But Djokovic saved it and with serve Serbia’s Novak Djokovic (L) poses with the winner’s trophy and Switzerland’s Roger Federer (R) played at the tournament. by Federer who is more than five years dominating, the set was decided by the holds the runners up plate Despite being outplayed by the older. tiebreak. longer than the women’s final on Sat- just 25 more minutes the final was all- 37-year-old Swiss for large parts of It was incredibly tough on Federer, urday. square with Djokovic managing just the knife-edge encounter, the world chasing a ninth Wimbledon crown, Two match points saved Djokovic, however, then went com- two winners in the set. number one triumphed 7-6 (7/5), 1-6, who didn’t face a break point until the The top seed was 3-1 up, then Feder- pletely off the boil, losing his footing Federer was comfortably on top in 7-6 (7/4), 4-6, 13-12 (7/3). eighth game of the fourth set. er inched to 5-3 before Djokovic swept as he was broken in the first game of the third set, flashing winners from At 4 hours and 57 minutes, it was the He even had two match points in the the next four points. the second set. all parts of the court but was unable longest Wimbledon final ever played 16th game of the deciding set which At 58 minutes, it was two minutes Federer broke twice again and after to convert a set point in the 10th game..