ENG vs NZ: World Cup 2019 final scene recreated after ball deflects off Ben Stokes’ bat at Lord’s
England and New Zealand are involved in an intriguing Test match at Lord’s. The hosts need 61 more runs to win with five wickets in hand with their former skipper Joe Root batting on 77. Captain Ben Stokes also scored a valiant half-century (54) playing a vital role in helping his side recover from 69/4 while chasing 277 on the third day. However, amidst all the action in the middle, there was one moment which left all the players including commentators feeling nostalgic.
During the 43rd over of the innings, Root pulled one short of a length delivery from Trent Boult. The ball didn’t go past the inner circle thanks to a good fielding effort. But Ben Stokes was already halfway down the crease to run a single. Sensing a run-out chance, the Kiwi fielder threw the ball at the non-striker’s end. However, it hit Stokes’ bat who was desperately trying to come back to his crease and ricocheted.
As soon as it happened, there were all smiles as Boult and Stokes also had a funny banter in the middle with the latter showing the direction of the ball to the bowler. The incident dates back to the most thrilling World Cup final ever that took place in 2019.
What happened in World Cup 2019 final?
In the final over of the chase, when the odds were stacked against England, the ball got deflected off Ben Stokes‘ bat and went to the boundary. There was no fault of the batter on that occasion as he tried to reach his crease while completing the second run.
But the incident gave England six runs when they needed nine off the last three deliveries and eventually, the game ended in a thrilling tie. Stokes too couldn’t do much apart from putting his hand up for an apology as New Zealand were left ruing their luck. There were too familiar scenes on Saturday (June 4) at Lord’s, just that, England were 161 runs away from victory and there were no extra runs added with the batters deciding not to run after the ball deflected off Stokes’ bat.
