England – The Road to World Champion

England played their first ODI match in 1971 and they won the first ODI world cup in 2019. The 48 years of ODI journey had seen the agony, disappointment, sacrifice, dedication, hard work and fight back. However, the only thing that remains constant is believe. It’s the belief which turned the tables finally. England lifted the World Cup on Jul 14, 2019. It’s a tribute to all the players who played this great game for England.

The First Ever ODI:

Australian cricket board decided to host a 40 overs ODI match in Melbourne on January 5, 1971 after the third Test match between England and Australia was washed out. Australian captain Bill Lawry won the toss and decided to field first. English opener John Edrich played a beautiful knock of 82 and helped England to reach 190. England tried to restrict Australia, but Ian Chappell and Doug Walters played sensibly and helped Australia to win the first ever ODI match by 5 wickets. John Edrich was declared the player of the match.

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1979 World Cup Final:

On Jun 23, 1979, the Prudential World Cup final was played at Lord’s. England won the toss and decided to field first. West Indies was struggling at 99/4 and they lost four key wickets of Greenidge, Haynes, Kallicharan and captain Clive Lloyd. Viv Richards helped West Indies to reach 286/9 in 60 overs. Viv remained unbeaten at 138. England started well. Brearley and Boycott had 129 runs partnership in the opening stand. However, England collapsed and lost 8 wickets in just 11 runs. West Indies won by 92 runs. Garner bowled magnificently and took 5 wickets. Viv was declared the player of the match for his match winning innings. 

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1987 World Cup Final:

England played against Australia in the Reliance Cup final at Kolkata on Nov 8, 1987. Australia won the toss and decided to bat first. Thanks to Boon’s 75, Australia posted a reasonable 253 runs on the board. England tried hard but fell short of 7 runs. David Boon was declared the player of the match.

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1992 World Cup Final:

The world cup final was played at MCG on March 25, 1992 between England and Pakistan. Pakistan won the toss and decided to bat first.They scored 249 runs in 50 overs. England was going well. Allan Lamb and Neil Fairbrother had 72 runs partnership between them. England was 141/3 at 34 overs and cruising to victory. During the drinks break Imran was worried. He had decided to bring Wasim back in the attack whom he saved for the death overs.The two magical deliveries of Wasim, shattered the dream of England. Wasim took the wickets of Allan Lamb and Chris Lewis in two consecutive deliveries.England lost the match by 22 runs and Wasim was declared the Man of the Match.

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2019 World Cup:

England met New Zealand in the 2019 World Cup final at Lord’s on Jul 14, 2019. New Zealand won the toss and decided to bat first. They scored 241 runs in 50 overs. England also scored 241 runs in 50 overs and the match was tied. It was decided to have a Super Over shootout to decide the winner. England scored 15 runs in the Super Over and New Zealand also scored the same runs in Super Over and it was tied again. England became world champions because they hit more boundaries in their innings. It was absolutely a fascinating match. One of the greatest in ODI History. No one deserved to lose but, there was only one winner in the end. England became the World Champion. A long-awaited dream came true. Eoin Morgan lifted the World Cup 2019.

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