There has never been a better or more infuriating finish to a World Cup: a twice-tied match separated only by an absurdly mandatory criterion.
So incredible was the final that it’s going to cast every other aspect of the tournament in its shadow. In the interest of giving every highlight the attention it deserves, let’s recap the past month and a half with some awards, some of them the usual fare, others not so much.
Player of the tournament: Shakib Al Hasan
Kane Williamson was given the official gong, and it’s hard to argue with that given he scored about 30 per cent of his side’s runs while captaining them to the final. But I will.
No one had a better all-round tournament than Shakib Al Hasan, who, in eight games, scored 606 runs at 86 and took 11 wickets. He scored two superb hundreds – one against eventual champions England, the other in Bangladesh’s record chase against the West Indies – passed fifty a further five times, and his one ‘failure’ was still over 40.
Had he had some more support, particularly on the bowling side of things, the Tigers would have been every chance of pipping New Zealand for the last semi-final spot, where their star all-rounder could and almost certainly would have added to his astounding tournament.
Still, fans of the Grade Cricketer will know that, after posting those figures with bat and ball while his side missed the finals, Shakib will be the happiest man in world cricket.
Honourable mentions: Kane Williamson, Jofra Archer, Mitchell Starc, Rohit Sharma, Ben Stokes.
(Photo by Tharaka Basnayaka/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Catch of the tournament: Sheldon Cottrell vs Australia
The fielding this tournament ranged from the horrid to the sublime, but nothing could top Cottrell’s astounding one-hander against Australia. Yes, Ben Stokes’ opening-match grab was incredible, but that was in part due to poor positioning in the first place. The West Indian’s one-handed, tiptoeing effort was faultless.
Honourable mentions: Ben Stokes vs South Africa, Martin Guptill vs Australia, Jimmy Neesham vs India.
Innings of the tournament: Kane Williamson 102* (138) vs South Africa
It wasn’t the fastest or the highest score of the World Cup, but Williamson’s match-winning century against the Proteas was the best. The New Zealand skipper’s superb technique and temperament were on full display as he guided his side to a crucial win, sealing it with a slog-swept six and glided four in consecutive balls in the final over.
Honourable mentions: Ben Stokes 84* (98) vs New Zealand, Eoin Morgan 148 (71) vs Afghanistan, Shakib 124* (99) vs West Indies, Ravindra Jadeja 77 (59) vs New Zealand.
(Photo by Alex Davidson/Getty Images)
The Warne-Gatting award for ball of the century tournament: Mitchell Starc to Ben Stokes
With Stokes guiding England to what would have been a critical win against Australia, Starc produced the best yorker many have ever seen – no mean feat for a man who bowls plenty of quality sandshoe-crushers.
It was fast, it swung late, it cannoned perfectly into the base of off-stump, it turned the match in Australia’s favour, it was… pretty much perfect.
Honourable mentions: Jofra Archer to Soumya Sarkar, Lockie Ferguson to Faf du Plessis.
(Photo by Andy Kearns/Getty Images)
The South Africa 1992 award for worst way to decide a knockout match: New Zealand losing the World Cup for scoring fewer boundaries
If there’s one bugbear many non-English fans will have about the final, it’s that it was decided on the number of boundaries hit by each side. Why not reward the team which bowled more dots? Or took more wickets? Or ran more threes?
Or why not just have another super over, and keep having as many as are needed to find a clear winner?
Mind you, it’s only slightly more absurd than using net run rate to qualify teams for finals, so maybe New Zealand don’t have all that much to complain about.
Honourable mention: New Zealand qualifying for the semi-finals on NRR.
The South Africa 1995-2015 award for biggest disappointment of the tournament: South Africa
Cheap shot? Maybe, but once again South Africa failed on cricket’s biggest stage. While Faf du Plessis was excellent with the bat and we saw plenty of Imran Tahir’s trademark celebrations, the Proteas lacked depth on both sides of the ball and paid the price for it. They faceplanted out of the gates and were never in finals contention.
Honourable mentions: West Indies, India, Australia’s semi-final performance.
Bowling performance of the tournament: Lasith Malinga 4-43 (10) vs England
For someone who didn’t expect them to win a game all tournament, the sight of Sri Lanka upsetting the hosts, having had to defend 232, came as quite the surprise. That shock was all down to the efforts of Lasith Malinga. The veteran was at his miserly best at the death against England, hitting his yorkers time and again as he grabbed four wickets and an unlikely victory.
Honourable mentions: Shaheen Shah Afridi 6-51 (9.1) vs Bangladesh, Trent Boult 4-30 (10) vs West Indies, Liam Plunkett 3-42 (10) vs New Zealand, Mitchell Starc 5-26 (9.4) vs New Zealand.
Breakout player(s) of the tournament: Jofra Archer and Alex Carey
Had there not been so much hype about Archer’s looming inclusion in England’s squad, had he not already well and truly broken out through his performances in the Big Bash and IPL, he’d have this one all to himself. After all, 20 wickets at 23, plus a Cup-winning super over, is quite the performance from someone who’s still yet to play 20 ODIs.
But Carey, too, had an outstanding tournament. He finished 14th in the run-scoring charts, behind 13 players who have now all played 70 or more ODIs. Carey is yet to play his 30th. Having come into the World Cup with questions rightly surrounding his place in the Australian side, he’s now established himself as the team’s wicketkeeper, and taken another step towards cementing his place as the heir apparent to Tim Paine in the Test side.
Honourable mentions: Nicholas Pooran, Shaheen Shah Afridi.
(Photo by Alex Davidson/Getty Images)
The Jonty Rhodes award for most mind-blowingly good run-out: Martin Guptill vs India
Having come to England with question marks over just one of their opening slots, New Zealand leave with them hovering over both. After blasting Sri Lanka all around the place in an opening-match ten-wicket win, Guptill posted sub-par score after sub-par score, including in the semi-final.
And yet, despite those failures with the bat, he still produced a game-defining moment against India, picking up with one hand and rifling in a perfect throw with just one stump to aim at to run out MS Dhoni and seal the Black Caps’ spot in the final.
Honourable mention: Ravindra Jadeja in that same match.
(Photo by Michael Steele/Getty Images)
The prom-night rejection award for the thing I wish really hadn’t happened this tournament: England being awarded six runs instead of five
When the ball ricocheted off Ben Stokes bat in what seemed like the last over of the final and the umpires signalled six, it turned the game in England’s favour. But, according to Simon Taufel, the correct decision would have been to award five runs, keeping Stokes off strike for the next ball and leaving the hosts with one more run to chase.
We don’t know what would have happened the following ball had that been the case. Adil Rashid might have creamed one to the fence. He might have edged it over the keeper for four. Or he might have been castled as Trent Boult bowled New Zealand to World Cup victory. Either way, hypothetical ‘what-ifs’ won’t do anyone any help, and it’s a shame that an incorrect decision has the chance to take the gloss off an incredible tournament finale.
Honourable mentions: Australia losing to England in the semi-final, Afghanistan not getting a win.
Match of the tournament: The final. Obviously
Do you really need an explanation for this one?
Honourable mentions: New Zealand vs India, New Zealand vs South Africa, New Zealand vs West Indies.
Neel
Roar Guru
I don’t know why, but the Blackcaps seem to have tight contests at World Cups. NZ vs Bangladesh, NZ vs South Africa, NZ vs West Indies, NZ vs India and NZ vs England were all tight and memorable matches. I thought that the NZ vs West Indies wouldn’t be beaten in terms of a tight contest. The final trumped that game. I nearly had a heart attack watching the final. Great game, gutted about the ending but life goes on. NZ have a good future ahead.
Neel
Roar Guru
I can’t believe he made that decision. The Pakistani batsmen were struggling to play the Afghani spinners, even the part-timers.
Neel
Roar Guru
The 1996 World Cup semi-final springs to mind Paul when you mention the word, ‘riot’.
JamesH
Roar Guru
I think there’s a very good chance that they will scrap the ‘most boundaries’ method completely now! I’d expect that they’ll either allow multiple super overs, use finishing positions as a tiebreaker or just allow joint winners.
Gordon P Smith
Roar Guru
Daniel - great article. This American's slowly coming around to a better understanding for and appreciation of cricket - forced into it by the delay in the footy season in '15 with the World Cup in Australia. Have to admit that several of the games kept even me alert and amazed, the final most of all, of course. What are the chances of installing a better emergency tiebreak system (a second Super Over seems the most logical to me, but what do I know?) - knowing that the odds are it'll never need to be used again?
Paul
Roar Guru
very fair comment James. Starc perhaps showed Archer the types of lengths he should have been bowling in some of his spells. I didn't see every Archer over, but those I saw didn't have enough "slot" deliveries, as the commentators were calling them. Archer's length would have been perfect for Australia, but was still good enough to be a real threat in most games he played.
Diamond Jackie
Roar Rookie
Mate you have a lot of awards there , surely you could have had one for “best act of sportsmanship” or similar. I can think of several kiwi moments that would be worthy. You can’t help but admire the way they play the game.
taylorman
Roar Guru
Hard case we were labelled boring at a point during the tournament and have the four memorable matches. Feels great to be different. :-)
badmanners
Roar Rookie
Agree re NCN, his innings saved our campaign and Roy should have been suspended and likely would have been if he wasn't heading into the final.
ScottD
Roar Guru
Maybe the Kane Williamson award for Roger Federer
Gnasher
Guest
The very worst thing about the cup for me was Gulbadin Naib of Afghanistan stubbornly bowling his country to defeat against Pakistan. Dreadful bowling, appalling selfishness, a horrendous lost opportunity for cricket in his country. I can only hope ti was a blunder rather than anything more sinister.
Paul
Roar Guru
terrific comment HiKa, thanks for posting it.
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
The Roger Federer Award?
James Butcher
Guest
They’re still batsmen to me too mate.
Daniel Jeffrey
Editor
Ooops.
Daniel Jeffrey
Editor
Cheers Ronan, they certainly played in some thrillers (that Windies game made it very difficult to concentrate on the Matildas-Norway match at the same time!).
HiKa
Roar Rookie
Williamson's little offies remind me so much of Viv Richards rolling his arm over for sneakily good, tidy overs.
HiKa
Roar Rookie
NZ and Britain (and everywhere else) have their share of volatile characters, too. India just has an awful lot more people, so there's more volatile characters just on the numbers. Perhaps the issue is having so many people with just about nothing to lose if they do riot. The West Indies seems like a relaxed, casual kind of place, but they have certainly had riots at cricket grounds, too. I think the issue you touch on is really one of poverty where people don't have enough other things in their life to care about. That said, I think it's a good thing that sport brings joy into the lives of so many people, but the joy would be dulled if there wasn't occasional pain.
Brian
Guest
For the hadn't happen can we add Braithwiatte dismissal against NZ if only the shot had flown one more metre
HiKa
Roar Rookie
That’s the nature of “strike bowlers”. When they are on, they can bowl out good
batsmenbatters (I am old enough that batters still makes me think of baseball) who are in good form. When they are on, their team is very likely to win. When not on, most strike bowlers tend to go for a few runs because their mindset is generally focussed on getting batters out, rather than minimising runs.