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.

Mumbai Indians won IPL 2017

This was, barring a WWE style rebirth, Rising Pune Supergiants last ever IPL game. They made sure it went the distance, all the way to the last ball, despite keeping Mumbai Indians down to the lowest first innings total in the IPL Final.

Somehow, Pune managed to drag a chase of 130 to the last ball. The first ever IPL final had come down to the last ball too. Then, nine years ago, Sohail Tanvir pulled L Balaji for a single to win it for Rajasthan Royals. Now, Mitchell Johnson bowled to Daniel Christian with Pune needing four to win. Bowling from around the wicket, Johnson went full and straight. Christian whipped it away to the left of deep square leg. J Suchith, the substitute fielder, fumbled at the boundary, allowing a second run. That wouldn't do for Pune. They needed four to win, and three to tie.

The batsmen chased a desperate third with Suchith's throw almost already in Parthiv Patel's gloves. Once Parthiv collected it safely, only one result was possible. Mumbai Indians, playing their fourth final, wrapped up their third title, winning by one run. Krunal Pandya was Mumbai's hero with the bat, his 38-ball 47 dragging them from 79 for 7 to an eventual 129 for 8, a total that would enable their bowlers to scrap all the way. Then, helped along by Pune's ODI-style top-order approach, those scrapping bowlers managed to make the required rate creep steadily upwards - with five overs to go, Pune were only two down but needed 47 from 30.

Given Mumbai's death bowling, this was definitely not over. Jasprit Bumrah took out MS Dhoni in the 17th over. Then Lasith Malinga and Bumrah again ensured Pune would only get two boundaries across the 18th and 19th. That left Steven Smith, batting on 51, and Manoj Tiwary 11 to get from the last over.

ESPNcricinfo Awards 2014

The ESPNcricinfo Awards honour the best batting and best bowling performances across the international formats of the game for the calendar year. This year, a jury of former players decided them. Awards are given in all three formats of cricket. New Zealand Captain Brendon McCullum became the first to score a triple century in tests, which came when New Zealand was about to lose test match against India. It is voted as the top test performance of the 2014 eighth annual ESPNcricinfo awards.

The Test Bowling awards goes to Mitchell Johnson for his spell of 7 for 68 against South Africa in Centurion. His brilliant performance bundled out South Africa for 206 and set Australia to win series and the match. It was his second consecutive ESPNcricinfo award in consecutive years. Rohit Sharma, who broke his monumental 264 against Sri Lanka at Eden Gardens, took the award for the best ODI Batting performance. He smashed his second double ton with 33 fours and 9 sixes. His first double hundred in 2013 against Australia also won the ODI batting award.

Lasith Malinga 5 for 56, which helped Sri Lanka, beat Pakistan in the Asia Cup final in Mirpur marked as the top ODI bowling performance. In the T20 category, England Alex Hales took the award for the best batting performance with his unbeaten 116 runs, against Sri Lanka in the World T20 in Bangladesh. In the same tournament, Rangana Herath 5 for 3 against New Zealand was the best choice for the bowling performance in T20.

Sri Lankan players have figured prominently across award categories in 2014, including the Statsguru Award, which recognizes consistency in performances. Sri Lanka Captain Angelo Mattews swept three awards. He won Batsman of the Year, Best Test Batsman, and most Consistent Test Batsman. It was rewarded for aggregating more than 1200 runs in Test and ODIs. Rangana Herath was named the Test Bowler.