ICC World Cup 2019: It Was A Shame That Ball Hit Stokes' Bat - Kane Williamson

New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson rued the four overthrows of the bat of Ben Stokes which proved critical in the end. Stokes made a diving effort in the final but the ball ricocheted to the boundary for extra four runs. Williamson said he hopes that it doesn’t happen again in a crunch and crucial match like the World Cup final.

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It was a thrilling final as the match went down to the wire. England clinched their maiden World Cup as they defeated New Zealand on the basis of more boundaries at Lord’s. The match ended in a tie to go into the Super Over. 15 runs were needed off the final over and a well-settled Ben Stokes was able to get 14 runs. In fact, the Super Over also ended in a tie and thus England win on more boundaries.

Subsequently, Kane Williamson gave credit to the English side to come out as winners. New Zealand had posted 241 runs with the help of Henry Nicholls who scored 55 runs. Tom Latham scored 47 runs whereas Chris Woakes and Liam Plunkett scalped three wickets each.

England was tottering at 86-4 but Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes added 110 runs for the fifth wicket partnership. Buttler scored 59 runs whereas Ben Stokes scored 84 runs from 98 balls to level the score.

Kane Williamson said in the post-match presentation, “We were thinking about the overheads. We thought runs on the board – we would have liked 10-20 more. But in a World Cup final this was a competitive total. The bowlers really put the batsmen under pressure. It had to go down to the last ball, and then the last ball of the next little match, but a great match all around. It was a shame that the ball hit Stokes’ bat, but I just hope it doesn’t happen in moments like that. I don’t wish to nitpick, just hope it never happens in such moments ever again. The left-hand right-hand combination was useful in the super over, looking at the short boundary, but it’s unfair to critique a match fought with such small margins”.

England had the rub of the green on their side as they scored more boundaries in their innings. The hosts scored 24 boundaries whereas New Zealand 16 boundaries in their innings.

Meanwhile, New Zealand was brilliant as we witnessed one of the best World Cup final. Kane Williamson would have been disappointed that his team could not get over the line but he would be proud of his team on how they played the game.

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It wasn’t to be for New Zealand and England was able to clinch the nail-biter to be the new champions of the cricket world.