New Zealand fans delay takeoff of a flight to see the team win

What’s the craziest thing you’ve done to watch your cricket team in action? Called sick or declared a relative dead to take leave from work or lied to your mom or partner and instead gone to the stadium? That’s not even close to what a bunch of New Zealand fans pulled off. The Blackcaps were playing Windies in a World Cup 2019 league game at the Old Trafford in Manchester. While most of the tournament before Saturday had pretty much panned one-sided both the matches on June 22 were thrilling clashes.

West Indians known for their batting firepower were chasing a tight target against Kane Williamson & Co. while runs were coming in for the Caribbean team they were thin on the wickets. Amidst all that, an Air New Zealand flight was fully boarded and ready for departure but the people weren’t willing to allow it to get in the air. Most passengers aboard were watching the live stream and before the captain could hit the engines there was a call in unison to wait.

There were just 12 balls and a wicket left in the match and they wanted to complete it before losing connectivity. Guess what? The pilot obliged and waited for the match to come to a close. Only after the Blackcaps won the match and the fans cheered in celebration did the pilot start the plane. Kieran McAnulty who is a Member of Parliament with the Labour party of the country was onboard the flight and put out a tweet sharing the amazing story.

“My @FlyAirNZ flight was fully boarded, the plane loud from all the live streams. 12 balls left, 1 wicket needed. Please don’t start the plane. The @BLACKCAPS win! We all erupt in unison. Only then, amongst the cheers, did the plane start to move. It was a beautiful moment. #CWC19,” he tweeted.

My @FlyAirNZ flight was fully boarded, the plane loud from all the live streams. 12 balls left, 1 wicket needed. Please don’t start the plane. The @BLACKCAPS win! We all erupt in unison. Only then, amongst the cheers, did the plane start to move. It was a beautiful moment. #CWC19

— Kieran McAnulty MP (@Kieran_McAnulty) June 22, 2019

New Zealand hold nerves in a crunch game

While for the most part of the 99 overs that were played in the game, the New Zealanders were in control and looked good to extend their lead at the top a certain Carlos Brathwaite seemed to have other plans. He played an exceptional knock but fell meters short of glory.

The Kiwis batting first had posted 291 runs on the board. Windies chasing that target looked good until Chris Gayle was batting and had young Shimron Hetmyer for company. Once they were dismissed it was New Zealand’s game. But then out of the blue Brathwaite decided to change the course of the contest. Despite losing partners at the other end he kept to the task and with 7 balls and 6 runs to win, he went for the big shot. It was caught at the long-on fence and all his effort came down crashing as they lost the match.

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With that, New Zealand have gathered 11 points from 6 matches and will certainly finish among the top four.