That was, without doubt, the most utterly nerve shredding, totally ludicrous, completely glorious game of cricket I’ve ever seen.
To get to the stage it did and still for there to be no way to separate the teams really does call for the idea that a trophy should be shared but in the end pretty much all sports have a ‘completely arbitrary sport related measure to split two teams who simply both refuse to give up and just lose’. If it had come down to the flip of a coin it couldn’t feel any harsher. But it has to come down to something, in the end. That thing favoured England, and oh the heartbreak and joy those fine margins are made of.
The Kiwis will be rightly gutted but they bear no poor grace for this game. They fought their opponent to a literal stand still. They played with dignity and sportsmanship. They did their nation proud.
And England.. (and Wales, and Northern Ireland).. four years of work. Four years, starting not even on their knees, but face down on the floor after the last CWC. Long moments of anguish and doubt. To come through all that and then play as they did against the Aussies, then play as they did today…
This was the greatest game of cricket this country has seen in.. years. Definitely since the 2005 Ashes. Maybe ever.