England win Cricket World Cup after Super Over drama

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England's Ben Stokes celebrates after winning the Cricket World Cup final match between England and New Zealand . (AP)
Updated 14 July 2019
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England win Cricket World Cup after Super Over drama

  • Eoin Morgan’s side finished on 241 all out in pursuit of New Zealand’s 241-8
  • Both sides finished Super Over on 15 so England won due to a tie-break rule because they hit more boundaries

LONDON: England won the World Cup for the first time ever on Sunday, holding their nerve to seal a thrilling Super Over victory against New Zealand after the final ended in a tie.
Eoin Morgan’s side finished on 241 all out in pursuit of New Zealand’s 241-8, sending the match at Lord’s to a six-ball shootout for each side.
England’s Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler took 15 off Trent Boult’s over before Jofra Archer stepped up to bowl against Martin Guptill and Jimmy Neesham.
With two runs required off the final ball, wicketkeeper Jos Buttler and Jason Roy combined to run out Guptill as he came back for the second.
That meant the host nation won on superior boundary count, sparking wild scenes of celebration at the “home of cricket.”
England, who have often cited a humiliating defeat by New Zealand at the 2015 World Cup as the catalyst for their climb to the top of the one-day international rankings, finally have a World Cup win to go with their three losing appearances in the 1979, 1987 and 1992 finals.
“Absolutely unbelievable, I still can’t quite believe it,” said Morgan. “A packed house at Lord’s — the support has been incredible from the very beginning of the tournament and we’ve managed to pull it off. It’s such a good feeling.”
“This has been a four-year journey, we have developed a lot,” he added. “We find it hard to play on wickets like that and today was about getting over the line. Sport is tough at times.”
The win comes four years after an embarrassing first-round exit at the 2015 World Cup and England were forced to dig deep during this tournament after three defeats in the group stages left them on the brink of elimination.
By contrast, defeat is devastating for New Zealand, who were also looking to win the trophy for the first time after being well beaten by Australia in the 2015 showpiece.

Ben Stokes, with 84 not out, had so nearly seen England to victory in regulation play but that ended with the scores level.
England were in deep trouble at 86-4 but Stokes and Buttler (59) shared a fifth-wicket partnership of 110.
Just when it seemed they would see England home, Buttler sliced fast bowler Lockie Ferguson to substitute fielder Tim Southee at deep point.
Ferguson then made it two wickets in three balls when Chris Woakes skied a catch to wicketkeeper Tom Latham, with England now 203-6 in the 47th over.
Needing 15 off the last over to win, Stokes was unable to score off the first two balls but lofted the third for six over long-on.
Then, with Stokes desperately completing a second run, his bat was struck by Guptill’s throw from the deep and the ball ricocheted for four more.
England got the target down to two from one ball but they could only manage a single, with last man Mark Wood run out, before the drama of the Super Over.
A man-of-the-match performance was redemption for Stokes after a 2017 street brawl threatened to ruin his career and he wept openly during the jubilant on-field celebrations.
“I’m pretty lost for words. All that hard work for four years and now to be stood here as champions of the world, it’s an amazing feeling,” Stokes said.
Earlier, fast bowler Liam Plunkett dismissed New Zealand captain and star batsman Kane Williamson for just 30 before removing established opener Henry Nicholls for an innings-best 55 in a return of 3-42 from his 10 overs.
Tom Latham hit 47 to help New Zealand to a total that agonizingly almost proved enough on a challenging wicket for batting.
“We have showed heart and fight to get to this stage and a tie in the final — it wasn’t meant to be,” said Williamson.
“The guys are shattered. It’s devastating. Tough to swallow.”


Baniyas emerge victorious in round 4 of Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Jiu-Jitsu Championship

Updated 30 June 2025
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Baniyas emerge victorious in round 4 of Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Jiu-Jitsu Championship

  • Final day of action in Abu Dhabi concluded with Al-Jazira Jiu-Jitsu Club finishing second and Al-Ain Jiu-Jitsu Club taking third

ABU DHABI: The fourth round of the Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Jiu-Jitsu Championship concluded on Sunday at Mubadala Arena in Zayed Sports City with Baniyas Club taking first place.

The final day of action had competitions in the kids and under-12 divisions (Gi category), with final overall standings confirming Al-Jazira Jiu-Jitsu Club in second and Al-Ain Jiu-Jitsu Club taking third.

Mohamed Humaid Hamad Dalmouj Aldhaheri, board member of the UAE Jiu-Jitsu Federation, said the championship “reflects the wise leadership’s vision of empowering individuals.”

“The involvement of younger age groups demonstrates the success of our long-term development plans, providing a safe, competitive, and professional environment that nurtures talent and builds a solid foundation for future national champions,” he added.

“The leadership’s continued support, including the directive of His Highness Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed to double the prize pool, inspires the entire jiu-jitsu community,” he said.

“This sport promotes physical fitness, mental resilience, and values like discipline and respect — key pillars for a strong society and a sustainable, world-leading nation.”

Hamad Nasseeb Al-Ahbabi, father of young athlete Matar Al-Ahbabi, said: “Anyone who’s seen my son’s progress in jiu-jitsu understands how much this sport can transform young lives. This championship is about more than medals.

“It’s about building character, values, and confidence. The generous prize initiative from His Highness Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed is a clear sign of how much the leadership cares about motivating and supporting the nation’s youth.”

The next round is in August, as jiu-jitsu strengthens its position as one of the UAE’s leading sports.


Caitlin Clark and Napheesa Collier chosen as captains of WNBA All-Star Game by fan vote

Updated 30 June 2025
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Caitlin Clark and Napheesa Collier chosen as captains of WNBA All-Star Game by fan vote

  • Clark received 1,293,526 votes from fans, while Collier had about 100,000 fewer
  • Collier leads the league in scoring at a career-best 24.5 points and is fourth in rebounding at 8.4 per game

 

 

NEW YORK: Caitlin Clark and Napheesa Collier will captain the WNBA All-Star Game next month, the league announced Sunday.
Clark received 1,293,526 votes from fans, while Collier had about 100,000 fewer.
“It’s cool that fans get to be a part of it and have a little impact on the game,” Clark said. “It’s going to be special to do it here in this city. ... Trying to make it the best All-Star that the WNBA has ever had. It’s certainly a cool honor.”
The Indiana Fever star, who is sidelined with a groin strain, is averaging 18.2 points and a career-high 8.9 assists. She also led the fan voting last season, her rookie year, but the All-Star format was the US Olympic team playing against a select group of WNBA stars so no captains were chosen. She learned she was captain in a phone call from WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert.
Collier leads the league in scoring at a career-best 24.5 points and is fourth in rebounding at 8.4 per game. Her daughter surprised her wearing a shirt saying “Mama you’re a All-Star,” as she scooted into the locker room with former Lynx great Sylvia Fowles right behind her to let Collier know the news.
“It’s really cool,” Collier said to reporters before warming up for a game Sunday night “I went from never being a starter to captain.”
This will be her fifth All-Star appearance.
Before squaring off in Indianapolis on July 19, Clark and the Fever will face Collier and the Lynx on Tuesday in the Commissioner’s Cup final.
The 10 starters were selected from across the WNBA without regard to conference affiliation. Current players and a media panel joined fans in selecting the All-Star starters. Fans voting accounted for 50 percent, while the players vote and the media choices each account for 25 percent.
The pair will draft their fellow starters from a group that will be revealed on Monday. After the starters are announced, the league’s head coaches will choose the 13 reserves by voting for three guards, five frontcourt players and four from either position. Coaches can’t vote for players from their own teams. The 12 reserves will be revealed next Sunday.
“Obviously I’m going to try and get my teammates on my team, that’s the goal,” Clark said. “Once they come out with whoever has made it and whoever hasn’t, I’ll get to pick and choose. I don’t know how it works.”
The two All-Star captains will then draft their respective rosters by selecting first from the remaining eight players in the pool of starters and then from the pool of 12 reserves.
Clark and Collier also led the initial fan voting, with Indiana’s Aliyah Boston in third. Boston finished second last season behind Clark in the fan vote.


Hall of Fame horse trainer D. Wayne Lukas, a winner of 15 Triple Crown races, dies at 89

Updated 30 June 2025
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Hall of Fame horse trainer D. Wayne Lukas, a winner of 15 Triple Crown races, dies at 89

  • His family said Sunday that Lukas died Saturday night at his Louisville, Kentucky, home
  • Lukas won 15 Triple Crown races, including the Kentucky Derby four times. Only good friend Bob Baffert has more Triple Crown victories, and Lukas owns a record-tying 20 in the Breeders’ Cup World Championships

NEW YORK: D. Wayne Lukas, the Hall of Famer who became one of the most accomplished trainers in the history of horse racing and a face of the sport for decades, has died. He was 89.

His family said Sunday that Lukas died Saturday night at his Louisville, Kentucky, home. Lukas had been hospitalized with a severe MRSA blood infection that caused significant damage to his heart and digestive system and worsened pre-existing chronic conditions.

“Wayne devoted his life not only to horses but to the industry — developing generations of horsemen and horsewomen and growing the game by inviting unsuspecting fans into the winner’s circle,” his family said in a statement. “Whether he was boasting about a maiden 2-year-old as the next Kentucky Derby winner or offering quiet words of advice before a big race, Wayne brought heart, grace, and grit to every corner of the sport. His final days were spent at home in Kentucky, where he chose peace, family, and faith.”

Lukas won 15 Triple Crown races, including the Kentucky Derby four times. Only good friend Bob Baffert has more Triple Crown victories, and Lukas owns a record-tying 20 in the Breeders’ Cup World Championships.

“The whole secret of this game, I think, is being able to read the horse: Read what he needs, what he doesn’t need, what he can’t do, what he can do,” Lukas said in May before his 34th and final Preakness Stakes. “That’s the whole key. Everybody’s got the blacksmith, everybody’s got to the same bed available, the feed man. We all can hire a good jockey. We all can hire a pretty good exercise rider if we’ve got the means, so what the hell is the difference? The horse is the difference and what we do with him in reading him.”

Lukas was affectionately known around the barns and the racetrack as “Coach” because he coached high school basketball before his professional career with horses began. Even with months to go before his 90th birthday, he would get up on his pony in the early morning hours and go out to the track himself, rather than letting his assistants do the day-to-day work.

Born Darnell Wayne Lukas on Sept. 2, 1935, in Wisconsin as the second of three children, he rose to prominence in the sport with quarter horses in races that are effectively sprints. He moved into thoroughbreds in the late 1970s and won his first Preakness with Codex in 1980.

Lukas has 4,967 documented victories in thoroughbred racing, with his horses earning more than $310 million from more than 30,600 starts.

“Today we lost one of the great champions of Churchill Downs and one of the most significant figures in Thoroughbred racing over the last 50 years,” Churchill Downs Inc. CEO Bill Carstanjen said. “We will miss his humor, his wisdom and his unmatched capacity to thrill the fans with the performances of his horses on our sport’s biggest days.”

Achieving something of a career renaissance over the past decade, one he credits to finding the right owners willing to spend money on horses, Lukas won the Preakness last year with Seize the Grey. Asked what motivates him to keep doing his job well into his late 80s, he gave a pep talk fit for a locker room before a big game.

“If you have a passion, you eliminate all the excuses,” Lukas said. “That’s how it works. You get up early. You go without a meal. You drive. You go without sleep — as long as you got the passion. Don’t let that sofa pull you down. It’s a little easy when that alarm goes off to say, ‘Oh my God, I don’t know if I really want to do this today.’ Erase that. The most important decision you’ll ever make in your life is your attitude decision. Make it early, and make the right one.”


Aldrich Potgieter, 20, wins Rocket Classic in five-hole playoff

Updated 30 June 2025
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Aldrich Potgieter, 20, wins Rocket Classic in five-hole playoff

  • Potgieter drained an 18-foot birdie putt on the fifth playoff hole to secure his first PGA Tour victory by winning the Rocket Classic at Detroit Golf Club
  • The trio of Potgieter, Greyserman and Kirk finished 72 holes at 22-under-par 266

DETROIT: As a grueling playoff unfolded in the Rocket Classic, South Africa’s Aldrich Potgieter was determined to have enough pace on what became the final putt Sunday.

Potgieter drained an 18-foot birdie putt on the fifth playoff hole to secure his first PGA Tour victory by winning the Rocket Classic at Detroit Golf Club.

“Struggled to make putts. Left a lot short,” Potgieter said. “Finally got one to the hole.”

Potgieter outlasted Max Greyserman in an extended playoff that began with three golfers. Chris Kirk’s bogey on the second playoff hole cost him a chance and reduced the playoff to two golfers.

Potgieter, a big-hitting 20-year-old, began the tournament with a 62 on Thursday and ended up with the biggest prize. He is the youngest South African to win on tour.

“Big thanks to my family, friends, coaches, everyone who has been involved to kind of get me to this point,” Potgieter said.

The trio of Potgieter, Greyserman and Kirk finished 72 holes at 22-under-par 266.

“This one is going to sting a little bit,” Greyserman said.

Potgieter, who became the seventh-youngest PGA Tour winner since 1983, and Greyserman both had birdies on the par-5 14th hole — the fourth stop in the playoff — before Potgieter sank the winning putt on the par-3 15th hole.

Kirk and Greyserman shot final-round 5-under-par 67s and Potgieter, who was the first- and third-round leader, had 69.

Kirk had the best chance on the first playoff hole, but he was off the mark on a birdie putt of slightly more than 9 feet.

“It’s a shame that first playoff hole,” Kirk said. “Hit just three perfect shots and I misread that putt a little bit. That’s the way it goes sometimes.”

Greyserman missed from 11 feet on the second extra hole before Kirk was eliminated with a three-putt bogey moments later.

“Just really disappointed right now,” Kirk said. “Felt like I played great today. I’m happy with the way I played.”

Greyserman, ranked 48th in the world entering this week, remains without a PGA Tour victory. He has four runner-up finishes.

“Unfortunately, I didn’t get the job done,” Greyserman said. “Thought I hit a lot of good shots down the stretch. Very pleased with how I handled myself down the stretch.”

It was a bogey-free round for Greyserman, who missed a birdie putt from just inside 12 feet on the final hole that would have given him the victory. He made birdies on Nos. 16 and 17 to rise into a share of the lead.

Except for a birdie on No. 17, Kirk posted par on seven of his last eight holes in regulation.

It was a crowded leaderboard for the entire day.

Michael Thorbjornsen (67) and Jake Knapp (68) shared fourth place at 21 under. Jackson Suber (68) and Colombia’s Nico Echavarria (66) tied for sixth at 20 under.

By late afternoon, there were 26 golfers within three shots of the lead. After Potgieter and Greyserman made the turn as the final pairing, there were several fewer so close to the top, but still more than a dozen — with more than half of those golfers still on the course.

Echavarria played the final seven holes in 4 under to match his first-round 66.

Harry Higgs and Akshay Bhatia had 65s for the best scores of the last round, finishing at 16 under and 15 under, respectively.


New faces lead US women to familiar result: 4-0 win over Ireland

Updated 30 June 2025
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New faces lead US women to familiar result: 4-0 win over Ireland

  • It was such a young lineup that Biyendolo had almost twice as many appearances (81) as the rest of the starting lineup (41), which represented the fewest combined matches of any USWNT lineup in the past 24 years
  • The US will get a much sterner test on Wednesday when they play Canada in Washington, D.C., to complete the three-match window

CINCINNATI: The US women’s national team’s depth was on display Sunday in Cincinnati when the squad’s backups dominated Ireland for a 4-0 victory in a friendly.

US coach Emma Hayes made 11 changes from the lineup that defeated Ireland 4-0 on Thursday and didn’t miss a beat as the Americans won their fourth straight match without allowing a goal. In fact, Ireland did not put a shot on frame.

Izzy Rodriguez, who made her USWNT debut along with Sam Meza, scored in the 42nd minute for a 2-0 lead while Emma Sears played a part in the first three goals. Sears and Rodriguez played together at Ohio State, less than two hours away.

Sandwiching the Rodriguez goal, Lynn Biyendolo opened the scoring in the 11th minute and Yazmeen Ryan extended the lead to 3-0 in the 66th with her first goal. Alyssa Thompson made it 4-0 in the 86th on an assist by Claire Hutton.

The win was the 600th in USWNT history in just 765 matches.

It was such a young lineup that Biyendolo had almost twice as many appearances (81) as the rest of the starting lineup (41), which represented the fewest combined matches of any USWNT lineup in the past 24 years.

It didn’t matter. Sears made a cross to Biyendolo in the middle of the box and she ripped a shot for her 25th goal.

Rodriguez got on the board when Sears took an entry pass from Olivia Moultrie and forced a save by Courtney Brosnan (six saves). The ball came to Rodriguez and she did not hesitate on the rebound.

The role was reversed on the third goal. Sears fed Moultrie and she found an unmarked Ryan.

A minute after Thompson’s goal, hometown favorite Rose Lavelle entered the match to a standing ovation and nearly scored in the ensuing minute.

The US will get a much sterner test on Wednesday when they play Canada in Washington, D.C., to complete the three-match window.