Jofra Archer and Jos Buttler had high praise for captain Eoin Morgan as they reflected on England winning the Cricket World Cup for the first time with a dramatic super over victory over New Zealand.
Nothing could separate the two sides after 100 overs of regulation play – both made 241 from their fifty – and it needed a six-ball shoot-out to decide the winners.
Even that was as tight as it could have been – New Zealand’s Martin Guptill forced the ball into the off-side on the final delivery and came back for a second run that would have given Kane Williamson’s side victory.
However a combination of Jason Roy’s throw from the outfield and Buttler’s neat glovework ran Guptill out and England won on boundaries scored in the original 50-over match.
‘”Pure elation,” said Buttler, reflecting on a made finale.
“I think like you say now to have won the World Cup, that four years means so much.
“Eoin Morgan and Trevor Bayliss spearheading all the things that have happened, there’s so many people, but to really get us to a position where we could compete in a World Cup and believe we could win it, to get us to a final and then somehow we’ve ended up champions after that game.”
On the faith shown in him by captain Morgan to bowl in the super over, Archer said: “Yeah, he didn’t even come to me. I had to ask him if it was me that was bowling.
“Yeah I think… a lot of the players told me that I got this even before he came. So I think everyone was probably looking for me to do it anyway.”
