South Africa won Rugby World Cup 2019

South Africa captured its third Rugby World Cup Championship defeating a favored England team 32-12 and extending the dominance of teams from the Southern Hemisphere in the tournament.

The South Africans broke open a tight defensive struggle late in the second half behind tries by Makazole Mapimpi and Cheslin Kolbe. South Africa also won the title in 1995 and 2007; it is the only country to win every Rugby World Cup final it has contested.

The first half was a battle of attrition, with both teams delivering punishing tackles and several players leaving the game early with injuries. But it was the powerful South African forward pack that set the tone, forcing England into several penalties during scrums, which contributed to a 12-6 South Africa lead at halftime on four penalty goals from flyhalf Handre Pollard.

The England captain, Owen Farrell, converted two penalty goals for the English. Six minutes into the second half, South Africa won another penalty at the scrum, and Pollard converted a long-range kick to make it 15-6. But England turned the tables with another kick by Farrell made it 15-9, and for a moment the English appeared to seize momentum.

But South Africa held off the English, and then Mapimpi broke free on the left-wing in the 67th minute, delivering a kick pass along the ground to a charging Lukhanyo Am, the outside center. Am scooped up the ball and immediately shoveled it back to Mapimpi, who took it over for the game’s first try.

Kolbe sealed the victory in the 74th minute, getting the ball on the right-wing some 40 yards out and dancing around several defenders for the try that put the game out of reach. Pollard’s conversion produced the final 32-12 score. South Africa became the first team to win the World Cup despite losing a match in the pool stage. The Springboks, as the team is known, were defeated by New Zealand, the two-time defending champion, in their opening game in Japan.

England won ICC World Cup 2019

In the grand finale of ICC Cricket World Cup 2019, England Cricket team defeated New Zealand Cricket Team in the Super over thriller to lift their maiden World Cup title at the Lord’s cricket stadium in London.

Batting first after winning the toss, New Zealand had posted 241/8 in 50 overs in reply to which, England ended at the same score leading to the one-over eliminator at the Lord's. In the Super Over, England batted first, and the duo of Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler made 15 runs, and New Zealand also ended at the same score but for the loss of one wicket, paving the way for an English victory on boundary count.

It was nothing less than sheer magic as the match kept tilting in the favour of England and New Zealand throughout the final overs, but eventually it was England whose 44-year-long longing ended on a Super Over, that too, on boundary count as England had 22 fours and two sixes compared to 16 by New Zealand.

Earlier, Ben Stokes was England's last hope in taking the team home as England needed 15 runs in the last over, Stokes played two dots and then smoked Boult over deep mid-wicket for six, then got a lucky overthrow while running a double that fetched them six runs --- that was the biggest highlight and that paved that way for England to reach the magic number. Kane Williamson won Man of the tournament award, Rohit Sharma won the golden bat and Mitchell Starc won the Golden ball in the tournament.

Belgium wins Hockey World Cup 2018

A gritty Belgium defeated former Champions the Netherlands in sudden death in a thrilling summit clash to win their maiden men’s Hockey World Cup title at the Kalinga Stadium. Olympic silver medalist Belgium created history by eking out a 3-2 win in the penalty shoot-out after the final match of the game’s showpiece event ended in a goalless draw.

It was a great day for Belgium hockey as the country registered its second biggest international title after the Olympics silver in Rio in 2016. In the last edition of the World Cup at The Hague in Netherlands, Belgium had finished fifth. The Netherlands, on the other hand, failed to match Pakistan’s record of a fourth world title for the second consecutive edition. The Dutch had finished runners-up to Australia four years ago in front of their home crowd. They last won a World Cup title way back in 1998 in Utrecht.

Incidentally, it was the Netherlands’ second consecutive match that went to shoot-out in the tournament after their victory over Australia in the semi-finals on Saturday. In shoot-out, Belgium goalkeeper Vincent Vanasch outmatched his Dutch counterpart Pirmin Blaak by making four saves to hand his side their maiden World Cup title.

Earlier in the day, Australia thrashed England 8-1 to claim the bronze medal. The title clash, which was witnessed by none other than cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, turned out to be a fierce contest between the two European sides. While the Netherlands took the early initiative and attacked continuously in the first two quarters, Belgium made a strong comeback after the change of ends.

Women’s World T20: Australia claim title

Two years ago, in the World Twenty20 semi-final, England suffered a humiliation at the hands of Australia, a six-run loss, courtesy of a collapse that saw them lose seven wickets for 60 runs. In the interim they have changed their captain, blooded new players and won a World Cup.

Even so there was a sense of deja vu today as they subsided from 30-1 to 105 all out, the equation this time nine wickets lost for 75 runs. Once again, it was the old enemy Australia who were their nemesis, storming to their fourth World T20 title by eight wickets.

For Australia it was their young leg-spinner Georgia Wareham who unexpectedly stole the show in her first ever outing against England, finishing with 2-11, a catch and a direct hit run-out to her name. Ashleigh Gardner (33*) and Meg Lanning (28*) then shared a 62-run partnership, Lanning stroking the winning single through the off-side after Gardner punished two huge sixes over Kirstie Gordon’s head to ensure the victory came in style, with 29 balls to spare.

Their under-par showing in the final completes what has been a difficult World Twenty20 with the bat for England, only Amy Jones finishing in the top ten tournament run-scorers. For Australia, meanwhile, the challenge was always to live up to pre-tournament expectations which put them as clear favourite: today’s clinical victory shows they have done just that.

England won FIFA U-17 World Cup

England came from two goals down to defeat European champions Spain 5-2 and wins their first FIFA U-17 World Cup title in front of 66,684 at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan Stadium in Kolkata.

In what was a pulsating final contest at India 2017, Spain raced out to a two-goal lead through a brace from Sergio Gomez. The Barcelona youngster opened the scoring just ten minutes in, nodding home in front of England goalkeeper Curtis Anderson after Juan Miranda’s cross from the left struck Cesar Gelabert and bounced goal wards. Gomez’s second goal just after the half-hour mark was a fine strike from close range, with Gelabert and Captain Abel Ruiz involved in the build-up.

Undeterred, England fought back to score five unanswered goals. They halved the deficit just before half-time through Brewster’s tournament-leading eighth goal. The Liverpool striker headed home Steven Sessegnon’s fine cross from the right. Sessegnon’s willingness to get forward and support the England attack drew them level just before the hour mark, as his low cross found an unmarked Morgan Gibbs White to make it 2-2. The Young Lions then took the lead through Philip Foden’s second goal of the tournament on 69 minutes, as he converted Callum Hudson-Odoi’s run and cross.

Any hopes of a Spain comeback ended on 84 minutes, as Marc Guehi finished off a Hudson-Odoi free-kick for England’s fourth before Foden raced in on the counter-attack for his second of the match in the late stages. England’s win follows the U-20’s success at Korea Republic 2017 earlier this year. Brazil finished as the third place team and also won Fair Play Award. Gabriel Brazao won the Adidas Golden Glove award. Rhian Brewster won the Adidas Golden Boot and Philip Foden won the Adidas Golden Ball. 

West Indies won T20 World Cup 2016

A Brilliant knock from Carlos Brathwaite and Marlon Samuels gave West Indies their second World T20 Champion title in Eden Gardens, Kolkata. Carlos hit four sixes in last over in four balls to win the title. This year Under 19 World Cup Trophy, Women T20 World Cup Trophy and Men T20 World Cup Trophy are lifted by West Indies Team.

So far, in World Cup West Indies lost only one match to Afghanistan in Super 10 round. They beat England twice including Final match, South Africa, Sri Lanka and India in Semi-Final. England was in game till 19^th over and set a target of 19 runs in last over. Ben stokes went for the final over and Carlos Brathwaite smashes four sixes in four balls to clinch the title and created history.

Virat Kohli was the top scorer in the World Cup with 273 runs in five matches in knockout rounds. Marlon Samuels was awarded Man of the Match award for his brilliant knock in Final. Samuels walked to the crease in the second over of the chase, when England had surprised West Indies by using Joe Root with the new ball, and he duly claimed Johnson Charles and Chris Gayle in his first over.

Virat Kohli won the Man of the tournament award in 2016 World T20 Final. He scored 273 runs at an average of 137. This was the sixth edition of the tournament. Next T20 World Cup will be hosted by Australia in 2020. 

Cricket Weekly

In the first week of Cricket around the world, matches were played with different teams in different countries. Sri Lanka toured New Zealand, West Indies toured Australia, England touring South Africa, Zimbabwe and Afghanistan are playing in UAE, and Big Bash league in Australia.

Sri Lanka lost Test Cricket & ODI cricket series in New Zealand. Both series were dominated by New Zealand in form batsman Martin Guptill and Kane Williamson. Sri Lanka tried best to give good challenge but team without retired legends is still looking for good combination of players. In another Australia remain unbeaten this year in test cricket and their complete team work won test cricket series against West Indies.

Australian Openers, captain and their bowlers are in tremendous form and players in all three cricket formats are in good form. England cricket team is showing a winning determination in South Africa to win Test cricket series. Ben stokes created records in second test match. England won the first test match and now lead the series. South African Skipper has stepped down as Captain.

Afghanistan won ODI cricket series against Zimbabwe in UAE in a thrilling finish in last match. They now are close to win T20 Series too if they win last match. In Big bash League; Adelaide Strikers is on top now followed by Perth scorchers, Melbourne Stars, and Sydney Thunder. In coming week, Pakistan will tour New Zealand for T20 and ODI series. India will tour Australia for T20 and ODI series. 

New Zealand won Rugby World Cup 2015

The 2015 Rugby World Cup was the eighth Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial rugby union world championship. The tournament was hosted by England from 18 September to 31 October 2015. New Zealand won the cup for the third time and two consecutive years. Australia took second place as runner up and South Africa took third place.

England was chosen to host the competition in July 2009, beating rival bids from Italy, Japan and South Africa. Of the 20 teams competing the 2015 World Cup, 12 of them qualified by finishing in the top three place in their pools in the 2011 World Cup. The other eight teams qualified through regional competition. Next and ninth Rugby World Cup will held in Japan from 20 September to 2 November 2019.

New Zealand won the game by 34-17. Wonderful tries from Milner-Skudder and Nonu had given the all blacks a 21-3 lead early in the second half before David Pocock and Tevita struck back. With 15 Minutes to go there was just four points in it, but a nerveless long distance drop goal and penalty from Dan Carter snatched back control. In the end, Barrett sprinted away on to Ben Smith clearing kick at the death history was made.

After Missing the 2011 World Cup final through Injury, this was the perfect ending for world Rugby most perfect 10 Dan Carter, who also won Man of the Match award. No team has ever scored so many in the first period of a World Cup Final, and the brilliance resumed a minute into the second half. In this World Cup, most tries are scored Julian Savea, most penalties are scored by Handre Pollard, most conversions are scored by Daniel Carter and most points are scored by Nicolas Sanchez.