The 2019 Cricket World Cup Final was a One Day International cricket match played at Lord's in London, England, on 14 July 2019 to determine the winner of the 2019 Cricket World Cup. It was contested by the runners-up from the previous tournament, New Zealand, and the host nation, England. It was the fifth time Lord's had hosted the Cricket World Cup Final, the most of any ground.
The two teams were tied on 241 runs at the end of the match, resulting in a Super Over being played to break the tie. On the final ball of New Zealand's Super Over, after equalling the 15 runs England managed in their over, Martin Guptill attempted to score the winning run but was run out by Jason Roy and Jos Buttler, meaning the Super Over was also tied. England won on the boundary count-back rule, having scored 26 boundaries to New Zealand's 17, thus becoming Cricket World Cup winners for the first time.
It was the first time a One Day International final match required a Super Over, and subsequently the first time it had been decided by a boundary count. The match has been described as one of the greatest and most dramatic in the history of the sport, with some analysts describing it as the greatest match in the history of one-day cricket.
Background
The 2019 Cricket World Cup started on 30 May and was hosted by England and Wales. Ten teams played each other once in a round-robin format with the top four teams going through to the semi-finals. Fourth-placed New Zealand beat group winners India in the first semi-final, and England, who finished third in the group, defeated second-placed Australia in the second.
England played in their first final in 27 years, their last appearance coming in 1992, when they were defeated by Pakistan at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Their other appearances in the final were in 1979 against the West Indies at Lord's and 1987 against Australia at Eden Gardens. Despite playing in the second-highest number of finals in the World Cup after Australia, they were yet to win the trophy. New Zealand played in their second final, and also their second in a row. They previously played in the 2015 final but were beaten by Australia.
When England reached the final, demand increased greatly for it to be shown on a free-to-air television channel in the United Kingdom. Rights holders Sky Sports agreed to allow Channel 4, who had the rights to broadcast evening highlights of the tournament, to carry the final in a simulcast (England cricket matches are not compulsory events requiring free-to-air broadcast). However, due to an existing commitment by Channel 4 to cover the 2019 British Grand Prix, the coverage switched to their sister channel More4 during the motor racing, returning to Channel 4 after the Grand Prix had finished. It was the first time an England international match had been broadcast on free-to-air television in the UK since the 2005 Ashes series.
Whichever team won the match would become the first new winner of the World Cup since Sri Lanka's victory in 1996. It was also the first world final with a guaranteed new winner since 1992.
Road to the final
Route to the final
New Zealand
New Zealand retained the majority of the team that reached their maiden World Cup Final as co-hosts in 2015, although Kane Williamson took on the captaincy following Brendon McCullum's retirement. They finished level on 11 points with Pakistan in the round-robin stage (five wins, three losses and one no result after their match against India was interrupted by rain), but took fourth place by virtue of a better net run rate than Pakistan.
In the semi-finals, they were paired with India, who finished first in the round-robin stage. The match was played at Old Trafford in Manchester on 9 July. With New Zealand on 211/5 after 46.1 overs, Williamson having scored 67 and Ross Taylor on the same score at the time, the match was suspended by rain and ultimately play was pushed to the reserve day the next day. Eventually finishing on 239/8, Taylor eventually out for 74, they produced a spirited bowling and fielding performance to leave India 18 runs short. Man of the Match Matt Henry took 3/37, including openers Rohit Sharma and K. L. Rahul caught for just one each and Dinesh Karthik spectacularly caught by James Neesham for 6. Meanwhile, fellow pace bowler Trent Boult had captain Virat Kohli trapped lbw for one and top scorer Ravindra Jadeja caught by Williamson for 77 when a seventh-wicket partnership looked to be swinging the match back in India's favour. Finally, Martin Guptill ran out World Cup-winning captain MS Dhoni for 50 with a direct hit to leave India with just their tail.