One of the all-time great Wimbledon finals? Check. A record breaking British Grand Prix for Lewis Hamilton? Check. So what dominates Monday’s back pages after Super Sunday? Why, possibly the most outrageous climax to a sporting event that has ever been seen – namely England’s astonishing victory in the Cricket World Cup final.
Not only do Eoin Morgan’s men monopolise the back of the papers they are all over the front pages as well after what is already being talked about as the greatest cricket match ever played.
England were crowned world champions at Lord’s after their nail-biting encounter with New Zealand ended as a tie – part in thanks to a freak boundary in the final over – and went to cricket’s equivalent of a penalty shoot-out. With both sides having scored exactly 241 off their 50 overs the match was settled by a ‘super over’.
Jos Buttler and man of the match Ben Stokes hit 15 off their six balls, and young England bowler Jofra Archer stepped up for England. Amid extraordinary scenes at the home of cricket New Zealand ended up needing just two off the final delivery. But when Martin Guptill was run out trying for the second England were crowned victors – thanks to their superior boundary count (who thought that rule would ever be used to decide a World Cup final?).
It was, everyone agreed, a Champagne Super Over for England.
“This was the most astonishing, fortuitous, preposterous climax to any cricket match I’ve witnessed, let alone a World Cup final,” says Vic Marks of The Guardian, a man who made his debut for Somerset in 1975.
“England do not win World Cups very often but when they do, blimey, they make the nation suffer for its glory,” says Matt Dickinson of The Times, which even produced a wraparound cover to mark the occasion.
