Following up on my assessment of the teams that finished 5th to 10th in the just-concluded Cricket World Cup, as promised, here is my assessment of the top final four teams. However, before I do that, I must go through the epic final between England and New Zealand.
What a game! I suppose the ICC could not have planned a better ending to the tournament even if Steven Spielberg had written the script. This was one of the most amazing games with everything; even being tied twice before England were crowned champions by having scored more boundary fours and sixes 26 - 17 in the entire game.
As a neutral, my heart bled for New Zealand. At 86 for 4, England seemed dead and buried. However, with their last pair of recognised batsmen at the crease, I knew that Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler were dangerous and if the Black Caps took their feet off the gas, they would pay dearly. When Butler finally departed, 46 runs were needed from 31 balls. But from here, the destiny of the cup was in the hands of the gods and not the players.
How does one explain Trent Boult, normally a safe catcher and a good judge of his positional play on the boundary, taking a comfortable catch to dismiss Stokes only to step onto the boundary board before he released the ball? Then Boult, the best of the Kiwi bowlers - 15 needed from the last over, two dot balls were followed by a 6. Then came the craziest moment of luck when Stokes was diving for his ground to complete a second run, the ball hit his bat and instead of two, deflected for 4 overthrows to make six in total. In the end, the New Zealanders were not destined to win the Cup.
Having said that, the ICC needs to look at the law with overthrows. Had the ball not gone for four, would Stokes and Adil Rashid run? I think not as it is an unwritten law that if the ball is deflected by the batsmen, they do not run and the time has come for umpires to call it a dead ball if the ball is deflected by an opposing player. I appreciate the fact that if a fieldsman is trying to run out a batsman and throws at the stumps and it is deflected from the stumps, then fine, because the fieldsman has a choice to not throw the ball. But surely, if it hits an opposing player then the ball should automatically become dead. I do hope the ICC has an intense dialogue on this going forward as this must be a logical change to make the game fairer.
Let us finish our assessment of the final four teams that qualified for the semis. New Zealand got in by the skin of their teeth. To be frank, I never considered them as a top-four team. I thought they depended too heavily on Kane Williamson to get the runs and Boult to get the wickets and they easily could have lost to South Africa and the West Indies. They looked a completely different force in the semi-final and final. Lockie Ferguson and Matt Henry bowled superbly in those games and defending 239 against India, and 241 against England, was nothing short of miraculous. Williamson led the side well and their fielding and catching were spectacular. A couple of their young batsmen need to step up if they want to be a force in world cricket.
Australia, I thought before the tournament would go on to win it. They were basically back to full strength with David Warner and Steve Smith wanting to make a statement to the world that their error in judgement is behind them and they are ready to start a new cricketing life. Together with skipper Aaron Finch and Usman Khawaja, their batting was sound and in Mitchell Starc leading a good bowling attack, they would be hard to beat. In Alex Carey, they have unearthed a sound, intelligently composed wicketkeeper-batsman who is destined for greatness. But this team lacked the true grit of an Australian team and surrendered meekly to England.
India, with Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli - two of the best ODI batsmen in the world, played like champions until they came up against England.
They struggled with the ball to contain the Englishmen and when they batted, they were the only on top for a brief period and in the end, they were left with far too much to do. They possess a very good team with quality players throughout the squad and they will have nightmares that they could not chase down 239 against New Zealand to get to the final. Was it complacency? I don't think so; it was just the Kiwis who wanted it more.
The champions - England - were boosted by Barbadian-born Jofra Archer who only qualified to play for England in March - a shrewd move by the English. I am convinced that had Archer not played for England, they would not be in the winners' row. Never mind the talk about this team. It was in the making for 4 years and Archer was the final piece to the jig-saw. Together with Joe Root, Buttler, Stokes and the home conditions, they were the team to beat in the end.
England is the 2019 World Cup Champions and congratulations to them. But the ICC should take a bow for a wonderful six weeks of exciting action because, in the end, cricket was the true winner.
Editor's note: The views expressed in this column are solely those of the writer and do not reflect the views of any organisation of which he is a stakeholder.