Ben Stokes’ finest hour in One-day Internationals: The 2019 World Cup final

World Cup final. A tie. Super over, also tied. Cut to the third delivery of the last over. 15 runs required off four deliveries. The hero of the day slams the ball beyond the mid-wicket boundary for a six. Nine runs required off three deliveries.

Our protagonist bangs the ball again to mid-wicket, takes off for two and dives headlong to regain the crease. The sharp throw fortuitously hits his outstretched bat and deflects for four overthrows. That’s six runs off that delivery! Three runs required off two deliveries.

Our hero hammers the next ball towards long-off and is again bent on running two, but his partner is run out. Now, two runs are required off the last delivery. Our man smashes the full-toss to long-on and yet again dashes for two; the last partner is also run out going for the winning run. A tie.

So here comes the super over. The hero is back, bat in hand again. They carve out 15 runs. The challengers hustle 14 runs off five balls. Two runs are required once again off the last delivery. Yet again the batsmen set off for two.

The mid-wicket fielder’s throw was straight but a bit short. The wicketkeeper stretches forward and breaks the wicket…and it’s a run out! Super over, also tied. Some boundary countback rule that no one gave much thought to becomes the tie-breaker. It’s a hat-trick of World Cup wins by the main hosts.

The other team is disconsolate but dignified. It doesn’t really lose but has to reconcile to being called the runners-up. Luck, destiny, drama, jubilation, and despair right down to the wire. A more theatrical script could not have been conceived.

Ben Stokes navigated the tricky chase on cricket's biggest stage

The hero was, of course, Ben Stokes. Kane Williamson won the toss and batted. After fireworks from Martin Guptill, the skipper put up his side’s best partnership of 74 with Henry Nicolls in 16.2 overs. Liam Plunkett made twin breakthroughs. Nicholls scored the only fifty of the innings, 55 off 77 deliveries with 4 boundaries.

Ben Stokes played the pivotal role in England's victory in the World Cup final

Thereafter, only Tom Latham played an innings of substance with his 47. Plunkett bagged 3/42; Chris Woakes took 3/37. The modest total of 241/8 was a challenging one nevertheless in a high-pressure final.

And so it proved. England were in strife at 86/4 after 23.1 overs. The persistent and canny Kiwis stifled them. Jos Buttler joined Ben Stokes. They gradually rebuilt the innings. Boundaries were not easy to come by. The half-century partnership came in 10.3 overs.

Stokes was watchful. Buttler hoisted his fifty in 53 balls with a ferocious strike to the mid-wicket boundary, simultaneously logging up the century stand in 10.1 overs. Three deliveries later, Stokes reached his fifty off 81 balls.

Lockie Ferguson got Buttler to miscue a slower one, to be caught at deep cover. Buttler’s enterprising 59 had come off 60 deliveries, studded with six hits to the ropes. The duo had brought England back into the game with their superb 110-run stand from 21.4 overs. There were 46 runs still needed in 5.1 overs.

The onus was on Stokes. Wickets kept tumbling. Seven had gone with 22 required off nine balls. Stokes lofted one over mid-wicket and Trent Boult trod on the boundary trying to take the catch. Six runs. Another wicket fell off the last ball of the penultimate over, leaving England with 15 to get off the last.

Ben Stokes got 14 of them, including the freakis overthrows. The two run outs off the last two deliveries contrived a heart-stopping finish. Stokes was unbeaten with 86 off 98 balls, having cracked 2 sixes and 5 fours.

The super over added to the hysterics. Ben Stokes emphasized the obvious.

“I don’t think there will be another like this in the history of cricket.”

Indeed. Lightning doesn’t strike twice.