Thought we were dead & buried: Morgan recalls 2019 WC final

London, July 14 (IANS) Eoin Morgan jogged down the memory lane and recalled the time he created history by becoming the first England captain to lift the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup. On this day, last year, Morgan saw his team get the better of Kane Williamson’s New Zealand in the final to finally end their World Cup drought.

Morgan recollected that one particular moment when he thought the final at the Lord’s had slipped away from their grasp. On the fourth ball of the penultimate over of the England chase, Ben Stokes hit a slower one from Jimmy Neesham in the air towards Trent Boult, who was fielding at long-on.

“There’s only one (moment of doubt) for me and it probably came to me the second time I watched it,” Morgan was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.

“Jimmy Neesham’s bowling to Ben, he bowls a slower ball, Ben hits it down to long-on and I remember the ball being in the air and you can see the trajectory of the ball – and you full well know when you hit it up the hill you have to absolutely smoke it to hit it for six.

“And it’s gone high and not quite as long as he’d liked and for a minute I just thought ‘That’s it, it’s over, Ben’s out, we still need 15 an over’ – that’s when I thought for a split second we were dead and buried,” he added.

Boult, however, took the catch but stepped on the boundary rope and the on-field umpire signalled for a six. Stokes then forced the match into Super Over, where the two teams ended in a tie as well. England were named as winners as they had scored more boundaries in comparison to their counterparts (26-17).

–IANS

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