An over to remember: How Ben Stokes and England won the World Cup final

The moment the World Cup was won 🙌🏼#WeAreEngland | #CWC19 | #CWC19Final pic.twitter.com/Vt8onfi9hU

— ICC (@ICC) July 14, 2019

History was created when the final went to the Super Over after a run out off the last ball of England’s 50 overs. History was created again when the two teams were tied even at the end of the Super Over, with both teams scoring 15 runs.

Before the Super Over though, one of the most thrilling last overs ever to be seen on such a stage was played out.

A 50th over to remember

England needed 15 runs to win. Trent Boult steamed in to bowl the last over. Stokes was fast running out of partners and only had No. 10 Adil Rashid and No. 11 Mark Wood for company.

The first two balls of the over turned out to be dot balls. New Zealand looked to have bagged the match. Both balls were attempted yorkers, dug out by Stokes, who refused singles both times. He knew England’s only chance was with him on strike. The equation, however, was now down to 15 runs needed off 4 balls.

The third ball was whacked for a six. The entire Lord’s ground suddenly roared to life as Stokes went down on his knees and smashed a slog sweep over deep midwicket. England needed 9 runs off 3 balls.

Why four overthrows of Stokes’s bat were allowed to stand

The fourth delivery was the one that turned the match on its head. Stokes tried to go big again but did not get the timing right. Martin Guptill ran around from deep midwicket and went for the direct hit. Stokes, knowing he had to get back for the double, ran for his life and dived in to make his ground. The throw hit Stokes’s bat and rolled away towards the boundary behind the keeper. Stokes raised his arms straightaway, gesturing that he had not obstructed the throw intentionally.

“I apologize to Kane (Williamson) for that,” Stokes said about what happened in that delivery after the match.

However, the laws of cricket are non-negotiable. They state that a batsman cannot be out obstructing the field if the obstruction is accidental (and therefore any runs scored in the event shall be allowed to remain). Stokes did not change his line of running at any point and there was no indication that he had stuck out his bat to stop the ball hitting the stumps.

Six runs were added to England’s score as the batsmen had run two and the ball had gone for four overthrows. England now needed 3 off 2 balls. There were two run-outs in the next two deliveries, but Stokes made his ground for a single each time to force the match into a Super Over.

Why England won the match even after a tie in Super Overs

England won the match in the Super Over despite scoring the same number of runs as New Zealand because of a mere technicality – they hit more boundaries than them.

Chances of teams taking the same number of wickets is probably higher than of them hitting the same number of boundaries

— jonathan selvaraj (@jon_selvaraj) July 14, 2019

So a World Cup is decided on the arbitrary ruling that boundaries are more important than wickets. Don’t ever tell me it’s not a batsman’s game. #cwc2019final

— Brydon Coverdale (@brydoncoverdale) July 14, 2019

It can be argued that it is tragic that such a momentous feat is decided on a technicality as arbitrary as this. However, the rules of this World Cup also were non-negotiable and devised for exactly such a situation when two teams cannot be separated.

England had hit 22 boundaries to New Zealand’s 14 boundaries in 50 overs and so ended up winning a historic World Cup title.