Stokes plays crucial role against motherland

Sports Desk: Ben Stokes was born in New Zealand's Christchurch on June 4, 1991. A little over 28 years later, he played a crucial role for England as the country for his birth suffered a major heartbreak in the final of the 2019 Cricket World Cup.

Ben Stokes, for starters, smashed an unbeaten 84 to steer England's chase of 242 against the Black Caps. Moreover, Martin Guptill's throw in the last over of the World Cup final deflected off Stokes's bat and ran over to the boundary as 6 runs were scored at a key stage.

Not surprisingly, Stokes was named man-of-the-match after England won the World Cup despite a tied final and a tied Super Over. The hosts were crowned ODI champions because they scored more boundaries.

At the post-match presentation ceremony, Ben Stokes said he would apologise to New Zealand captain Kane Woilliamson for the rest of his life.

"I said to Kane I'll be apologising for that for the rest of my life. It was not the way I wanted to do it.. the ball going off my bat like that.. I apologised to Kane," Ben Stokes said.

Stokes was a vital member of England's ODI side which underwent a major revamp after being knocked out of the 2015 World Cup group stage down under. He said the World Cup was the team had aspired for after years of hard work.

"All the hard words that's gone in over these four years, this is where we aspired to be. To do it with such a game, I don't think there will be another like this in the history of cricket," he said.

New Zealand captain Kane Williamson said what happened was unfortunate but accepted his fate after England lifted the World Cup for the first time.

That was a bit of a shame, wasn't it? You just hope it doesn't happen in moments like that. You can nitpick, but perhaps it just wasn't meant to be for us. It is perhaps tough to review the match, and such small margins," he said.

England had reached the World Cup final for the 4th time - they had lost to West Indies, Australia and Pakistan previously. New Zealand were playing their second World Cup final. The Black Caps had lost to Australia in 2015.

risingbd/July 15, 2019/Mukul