"We had no right to win it" - Joe Root recalls dramatic events of 2019 World Cup final
England's ace batter Joe Root has admitted that the result in the 2019 ODI World Cup final at Lord's against New Zealand still baffles him, given the position they were in. Root reckons what made the victory sweeter was the fact that he and his team had no right to win it.
England beat New Zealand on boundary count after the match and super over resulted in ties. Henry Nicholls' gritty half-century after New Zealand won the toss propelled them to 241 in 50 overs. In response, the hosts were 86/4 at one stage before a 110-run stand between Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes revived their hopes.
Stokes, who remained unbeaten until the end, saw a throw from the deep ricochet of his bat and go for four in the closing stages of the innings. He was also caught on the boundary by Trent Boult, but the pacer had stepped over the ropes while doing so.
Speaking to The Telegraph, Joe Root said the victory was sweet, but that he had concerns with his performance.
"It is a pinch-yourself thing when you sit down and think about it. We had no right to win it but that makes it a bit sweeter. I just had a shocker of a day with the bat," he said.
The Yorkshire batter underlined that he really wanted to make the occasion count, but faced 30 balls for his seven runs before being dismissed by Colin de Grandhomme:
"It was one of the most frustrating innings I have played as an England player on one of the days when you really want to stand up and be counted, but there are so many times when individually you fail, but are part of something bigger than yourself and your mates pull you through."
Root otherwise had a stellar tournament with the bat, scoring 556 runs in 11 matches at 61.33 with two centuries and three fifties. He was England's highest run-scorer at the event.
"We never got a chance to celebrate and enjoy" - Joe Root
Joe Root added that England deserved a moment to enjoy and absorb the landmark win. However, they couldn't do so as they had to quickly move on to the 2019 Ashes series.
"We never got a chance to celebrate and enjoy [the World Cup] and then move on. It [The Ashes] came so quickly after it, there wasn’t the ability to put that to one side. It would have been nice to have a moment as a team.
"In 2005 they had a bus parade. Not saying we needed that, but if we’d had a day to say 'Congrats,' and pat ourselves on the back and reminisce and then move on to that Ashes, it would have helped."
The defending champions will start the 2023 World Cup against New Zealand on October 5 in Ahmedabad.