London: England ended their 44-year wait for a maiden 50-overs World Cup title by beating a gutsy New Zealand side on boundaries (26-17) after a tied Super Over amidst heart-stopping drama on Sunday.
Chasing 242 for victory, man-of-the-match Ben Stokes' scintillating 84 not out helped the hosts tie the see-saw contest, forcing the Super Over where more nail-biting excitement unfolded.
Buttler and Stokes took 15 runs off Trent Boult's Super Over without losing their wickets. New Zealand also scored 15 runs off Jofra Archer's over but England won on boundary count, triggering wild celebrations at Lord's as the hosts capped a stunning turnaround.
Since being unceremoniously dumped out of the 2015 edition of the marquee tournament in Australia, Eoin Morgan's England side have reinvented themselves as a white-ball juggernaut, heading into this World Cup as overwhelming favourites.
Back-to-back defeats by Sri Lanka and Australia in the group stage helped England rediscover the attacking brand of fearless cricket which has been the hallmark of the current team. They dismantled India and New Zealand to storm into the semifinals, where they crushed Australia with another ruthless display of all-round excellence.
Sunday's final, England's first since 1992, pitted them against a New Zealand team chasing their own slice of history after spending decades as the tournament's bridesmaids.
New Zealand captain Kane Williamson carved his share of history by winning 'Player of the Tournament' scoring 578 runs in this World Cup.
Controlled bowling
Morgan lost an important toss, but Liam Plunkett and Chris Woakes led England's controlled bowling display to restrict New Zealand to 241 for eight on a two-paced wicket.
Henry Nicholls made 55 and Tom Latham chipped in with 47 but lack of significant partnerships hurt New Zealand, who eventually settled for a below-par total.
Nicholls and Williamson put on 74 runs to bolster the New Zealand innings but Plunkett's two-wicket, cross-seam masterclass took the wind out of their sails. Plunkett dismissed both batsmen just when the partnership was looking dangerous and he eventually finished with 3-42.
Woakes claimed three as well, including the wicket of Latham just when the batsman was looking poised to provide the late charge that could have taken New Zealand past the 250-mark.
New Zealand's new ball pair of Trent Boult and Matt Henry returned determined not to let it become a cakewalk for the hosts.Henry dismissed the in-form Jason Roy for 10 and Colin de Grandhomme put a struggling Joe Root (7) out of his misery.
England could have been in a bigger hole had de Grandhomme not dropped a waist-high return catch from Bairstow, then on 18. England were gasping on 86-4 when Stokes was joined by Buttler for a 110-run stand to revive the chase and tie the scores, producing one of the most thrilling matches in the history of the game.
First ever super over in ODI cricket
A super over is a tie-breaking method used in limited over cricket matches. The method also known as the one-over Eliminator, consists of one over (six balls) and two wickets for each team. If the super over ends in a tie, the winner is decided by the number of boundaries scored during the course of the match.
Though the runs earned during the super over do not add to a player's score card, it identifies the winning team of a match which would have otherwise resulted in a tie.
Super over was first introduced in 2008 in Twenty20 cricket format. It was adopted in One Day International Cricket three years later, in the 2011 Cricket World Cup's knock-out stage. The method was however, not used in the World Cup as none of the games in the knock-ot stages were tied.
In the 2015 World Cup, the method was no longer used in the knock-out stage. Ties were decided on the basis of group stage performance. The super over was however, retained as an option for tie-breaking in the finale.
The 2019 Cricket World Cup final in fact marks the first ever ODI to be determined by a super over.
List of cricket World Cup winners
1975 - WEST INDIES beat Australia by 17 runs
1979 - WEST INDIES beat England by 92 runs
1983 - INDIA beat West Indies by 43 runs
1987 - AUSTRALIA beat England by seven runs
1992 - PAKISTAN beat England by 22 runs
1996 - SRI LANKA beat Australia by seven wickets
1999 - AUSTRALIA beat Pakistan by eight wickets
2003 - AUSTRALIA beat India by 125 runs
2007 - AUSTRALIA beat Sri Lanka by 53 Runs (D/L)
2011 - INDIA beat Sri Lanka by six wickets
2015 - AUSTRALIA beat New Zealand by seven wickets
2019 - ENGLAND beat New Zealand on boundaries (26-17) after tie in Super Over
