WATCH: Blackcaps fall to England at the brink of the most thrilling Cricket World Cup final ever
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WATCH: Blackcaps fall to England at the brink of the most thrilling Cricket World Cup final ever

The best draw you'll ever see
25 August 2022 2:05PM

England have been crowned Cricket World Cup champions after beating the Blackcaps in a super over thriller at Lord's on Monday (NZ time).

After Kane Williamson won the toss and elected to bat, New Zealand posted 241/8 from their 50 overs, with opening batsman Henry Nicholls leading the way with 51.

New Zealand born-Ben Stokes then hit an unbeaten 84 as England reached 241 off the final ball to force the match into a super over.

England needed 15 to win in the final over and there were two massive calls. Stokes hit the ball for six after Trent Boult stood on the boundary rope trying to catch him. On the following ball, Martin Guptill threw the ball towards the stumps and it Stokes' bat and went for another six. 

Boult then came up huge off the final two balls to force the match into the super over, the two sides' scores tied.

But Stokes was the giant killer, helping England post 15/0 in the super over, which the Blackcaps couldn't chase down.

Having lost in the World Cup final four years ago to Australia in Melbourne, Williamson's side were determined to come out on top and remove the underdog tag, which has long been associated with his team.

But on a green pitch the hosts appeared to get the rub of the green during the match, with lots of marginal calls going their way, and ultimately they proved too strong in front of a vocal crowd.

The Blackcaps bowlers did their best to trouble England - at one stage they were 86/4 - but a 110-run partnership between Jos Buttler (52) and Stokes (82no) propelled them to a historic win in the later overs.

The result comes 12 days after England crushed New Zealand by 119 runs during the round-robin stages of the tournament at Durham.

The Blackcaps nearly got off to a horrible start as Nicholls was given out lbw on 0 before ball-tracking showed the ball was going over the stumps.   

Martin Guptill (19) was the first batsman to be dismissed in the seventh over as Chris Woakes (3/37) rapped the dangerous opener on the back pad to have him lbw.

Guptill reviewed the dismissal only for it to be upheld, and that decision would come back to hurt the Blackcaps later in the innings.

Williamson (30) joined Nicholls at the creased the pair put on a 74-run partnership before the Kiwi skipper was caught behind. He was initially given not out on the field before the third umpire overturned the decision.

Nicholls was his next victim when he inside-edged Liam Plunkett's (3/42) delivery onto the stumps.

In the 34th over, the wasted review came back to bite New Zealand when Ross Taylor (15) was given out by a ball from Mark Wood (1/49) as he tried to steer it around his front leg. Replays showed the ball would have gone over the top of middle stump.

From there, Tom Latham (47) did his best to steer New Zealand to a modest total before Woakes had both he and Colin de Grandhomme (16).   

New Zealand eventually reached 241/8, which untimely proved not to be enough.

The Blackcaps nearly got off to the perfect start with the ball when Jason Roy (17) survived an lbw from Trent Boult (0/37) off the first delivery of the game. Roy was eventually dismissed in the sixth over by Matt Henry (1/40)

De Grandhomme (1/25) then got the wicket of Joe Root as the Blackcaps all-rounder bowled the economical 10 over spell in a World Cup final since Derek Pringle's 3/22 in 1992.

Jonny Bairstow and Eoin Morgan then fell in quick succession which saw England at 86/4 near the halfway stage.

But Buttler and Stokes' partnership helped put England in the box seat as the match came down to the wire.

The pair did enough, in the end, to help England force a super over as they won the cup for the first time.