Top 10 Iconic Moments In Cricket World Cup History

2. England defeat New Zealand in final; Ben Stokes’ controversial boundary- 2019 World Cup

In the greatest World Cup final of all time, England defeated New Zealand at Lord’s in the 2019 World Cup summit clash on boundary count after the match, and then the super over ended in a tie.  The exciting match saw New Zealand scoring 241/8 after choosing to bat first. Henry Nicholls made 55 and Tom Latham made 47 for the Kiwis, while Chris Woakes and Liam Plunkett picked three wickets apiece. 

In the chase, Jos Buttler made 59, but it was Ben Stokes, who kept them in the game with 84*. In the final over of the match, England needed 15 runs to win. Trent Boult was hit for a six on the third ball by Stokes. Boult again conceded six runs but in a controversial manner. Stokes hit the ball to midwicket and scampered for two.

Martin Guptill aimed the ball to the batting end to catch Stokes short, but instead, his throw hit the bat of a diving Stokes and deflected for a boundary.  The umpire Kumar Dharmasena ruled it as a boundary, signaling six runs, adding the two runs that were run by the batters. With England losing two wickets on the next two balls, both run out, the match ended in a tie in a controversial manner.

England then batted first in the super over and scored 15 runs with Stokes and Buttler hitting a boundary each off Boult. Chasing 15 runs in a super over, Jimmy Neesham hit Jofra Archer for a six on the second ball. The next two balls conceded 4 runs and New Zealand required 2 runs off the final ball. Martin Guptill clipped the ball for an easy single, which was not enough, towards midwicket. Going for a difficult second run, Guptill was run out and the super-over was tied. 

The result was given in favour of England, who had hit more boundaries in their innings. This left the New Zealand players in tears as this was their second consecutive loss in the World Cup finals. This match also caused the ICC to change its rulings.