Jimmy Neesham discloses what he said to Martin Guptill before the WC final Super Over

It’s been two weeks since that manic World Cup final. There were emotions flowing all over the world as despite playing 102 overs of cricket, there was not a run that could separate the two sides, England and New Zealand. Eventually, it was England who emerged as winners due to the boundary count rule. They hit 26 boundaries while the Kiwis hit only 17. England lifted the World Cup title for the first time in the history of the game.

The final was tense, nerve-wrenching for not only the players but also everyone watching. Jimmy Neesham was in thick of things all along. He was bowling at the death and then later came out to bat in the Super Over as well. Thus, there was a lot of pressure around.

However, the Blackcaps all-rounder wasn’t nervous at all. In fact, he was excited and was thinking about all sorts of possibilities. He scored 13 in that Super Over as New Zealand eventually tied the game even in that one-over eliminator but lost out on boundary count. However, Neesham is proud of the way things panned out and was hopeful things would be different four years down the line.

“I wasn’t nervous at all. It was a feeling of excitement and possibilities. The cards didn’t fall our way that day, but I’m still very proud of how we went out and took the game on and maybe in four years’ time, it will be different,” Neesham was quoted saying by The Guardian.

‘From Ken Maunder Park to a World Cup final at Lord’s – how good is this?’

It was Jimmy Neesham and Martin Guptill who walked out to bat in the Super Over for New Zealand. They needed 16 to lift the World Cup title. However, before going out to bat, Neesham and Guptill had a chat about their past. They played together a decade ago in club cricket before Neesham moved out of Otago. Now, they were back at the pinnacle of ODI cricket – a World Cup final at Lord’s.

“Guppy [Guptill] and I sat on the sidelines before we went out for the super-over and we actually played club cricket together in Auckland in about 2009 before I left to go to Otago. I turned to him and said ‘From batting together at Ken Maunder Park 2009, to a World Cup final at Lord’s. How good is this?’ And we had a little laugh and walked out,” Neesham added.