ICC World Cup 2019 - Kane And The Pain

England lifted their first World Cup; New Zealand came agonisingly close to doing so themselves. Umpiring errors and a controversial law sealed the fate of the final. But, in the aftermath of one of the greatest World Cup finals ever, the law and the umpires have garnered most of the attention

- Neeru Bhatia

The match was over, the stands had emptied, the sun had set on an unbelievable game of cricket. There was not much light around the Lord’s Cricket Ground in London. Outside, cameramen, technicians and ground staff were finishing their work. The media centre had finally shut down, and the last stories had been filed.

The home and away dressing rooms, however, were still inhabited. In England’s room, there was laughter, tears and dancing. Thanks to the celebrations that continued till 5am at the team hotel, there were quite a few sore heads at the felicitation at the Oval around noon the following day.

In the other dressing room, the New Zealanders could not wrap their heads around what had happened. They sat, drank some pints, tweeted, and thought about it some more. As a headline the next morning proclaimed, New Zealand had lost the World Cup by zero runs. The teams were tied in the regulation overs, and even in the Super Over. There was nothing to separate the two sides on that night. Nothing but a controversial law. “It hits you in waves,” captain Kane Williamson said the next morning. “For ten minutes you forget about it, and you make little jokes. And then it comes back to you and you go: ‘Did that just happen? Did it just happen?’”

England captain Eoin Morgan had popped into the Kiwi dressing room, but words could offer scant cheer. The New Zealand team had left for their hotel much before the Englishmen and had slept for a few hours. At least that is what they said. “It was a real shame that the tournament was decided in the way it was after two teams went at it,” Williamson said the next day.

After four years of planning, nearly two months of cricket, and 600 balls played in the final at Lord’s, the cup was decided by an overthrow, an umpiring error, a Super Over and a count-back rule. The team that hit more boundaries—England—lifted the cup.