Insane day of sport
The best day on the couch. Ever!
A severe case of RSI tonight flicking between channels like a mad person as both the ICC World Cup Cricket Final and the Wimbledon Men’s Final concluded within minutes of each other.
A week or so after England’s women went out of the World Cup in familiar despair, and just over a year after England’s men also fell at the final hurdle, the men’s cricket team were crowned World Champions for the first time in an incredible game, with so many seemingly implausible scenarios. Who knew cricket could be so exciting.
I had already got the WC cricket bug following most of the games during the last 6 weeks, and the finals have been an superb advert for the sport.
New Zealand’s score was relatively low, and it seemed easily doable despite a slow pitch. Yet the Kiwi’s kept eating at our order, and losing Buttler was a killer. Suddenly there looked no other result than a loss, and with their tails up NZ’s bowlers kept pushing the runs per over requirement up.
Then what happened in that over when one of their fielders trod backwards over the line with the ball in his hand, and then I think the whole country must have been staring at the TV with their eyes popping and jaws dropping when the throw hit Stokes as he threw himself over the crease, and the ball crusaded out over the boundary. Does that even happen regularly?
3 runs needed from 2 balls. Has to be, but no and a Super Over, just as the tennis was going into a 5th set 12-12 tie break. Where did these rules even come from?
I wasn’t sure if 15 was enough in the Super Over, but with the boundary advantage it was 16, and that was a good as any over during the game. Up steps the youngster Archer. First ball and he has his Dillon Phillips moment.
The Sussex boy then gets hit for 6. How we even came back from there to win, we will never know. An incredible victory, but incredibly tough on NZ, but how honourable they were and what an absolute gent Kane Williamson is.
Meanwhile at Wimbledon in what was often a football type atmosphere, two of the greatest sportsmen that walk this planet slugged it out for almost 5 hours in the Wimbledon Men’s Final. I am in awe of Federer, and was devastated he lost, when he really should have won, but it was a tremendous match and they’d probably still be out there if it wasn’t for that new 24th game 5th set tiebreak.
Quite a day, and I didn’t even follow the British Grand Prix.
Chicago Addick 
Would someone please explain to me the logic of Ladies tennis players getting paid the same as men,when the entertainment value equates from sunday morning football on blackheath to the premiership
The logic is that people are happy to pay the same money to watch female tennis players as they do for male tennis players. Plus it’s about equality. It doesn’t bother me that they get the same money. They put the same effort in, just play two fewer sets.
**Does that even happen regularly?**
Virtually never, I’ve seen it happen once or twice, but to rub salt into the wound it’s an unwritten law of the game that batsmen don’t run for accidental overthrows in that situation (the laws do allow them to), however the deflected ball then crossed the boundary so the umpires had no other option but to give England four runs as per the laws of the game, had it stopped short of the boundary, and it only just made it, then it was game over. To echo your comments about Kiwi sportsmanship the catch on the boundary that was bounced back to Martin Guptill was immediately called a six by the fielder – there was no attempt to con the umpires. Given the circumstances that was commendable.
The ladies semi finals and finals were all over in about an hour each,the mens semis around 3 hours the final nearly 5 hardly the same effort,still if people want to pay to watch thats up to them.