As England celebrated their first-ever Cricket World Cup triumph on Sunday, it was a moment of heartbreak for New Zealand, as Kane Williamson and co. lost out on the coveted trophy after they came very close to winning it themselves.

Meanwhile, Williamson was adjudged the player of the series for a brilliant performance with the bat and also for his captaincy that helped the Kiwis reach the final of the World Cup. But Williamson himself appeared to be highly surprised by the decision, as visible from his reaction.

The Kiwi captain can be seen exclaiming “Me?!” and looking at the informer with an expression of wonder on his face.

Speaking about the match, Williamson won the toss for New Zealand and opted that they bat first. Only Henry Nicholls (55), Tom Latham (47) and the captain himself (30) were able to impress as the hosts restricted the Kiwis to a moderate score of 241/8 in their allotted 50 overs. Chris Woakes (3/37), Liam Plunkett (3/42) and Jofra Archer (1/42) led the England bowling line-up extremely well.

In reply, New Zealand’s pacers struck England early on and even reduced them to 86/4 at one stage, before Ben Stokes (84 not out) and Jos Buttler (59) produced a 110-stand to bail them out of trouble. However, the Kiwis did well to stage a comeback and soon bowled England out for 241 runs to force a tie and a super over.

In the super over, England batted first and Stokes and Buttler scored 15 runs. In reply, New Zealand’s Martin Guptill and James Neesham also scored 15 runs to tie the super over.

England were eventually adjudged the winners as they had scored more boundaries (24) as opposed to New Zealand (17).

Fox Sport Asia

BDST: 0945 HRS, JUL 15, 2019
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