Brilliant game of cricket. However, I can barely recall a more unlucky moment in sport than the throw that went for four off Stoke's bat. I'm not sure I've ever seen that happen in that manner in any cricket match, let alone in the last over of a cricket world cup final. Desperately unlucky because they probably had the game in the bag at that point. It feels a bit like cheating but it clearly isn't.

Still, rules is rules and the sporting god's looked favorably down on England today. Amazing game, amazing victory. Well done England.

See it may be a big risk for our budget but in the market generally he would be seen as something of a bargain. His weekly wage is mooted to be 70k, half of Kolasinacs. The fee of 22 million plus bonuses is just nothing for a competent fullback with a bigger ceiling remember Kyle Walker went for 50 and Juve want 60 for Cancelo right now.

What’s the alternative ? Probably sign an older more experienced full back in the age 28-32 bracket who will probably ask for 150k a week on a 4 year deal.

The injury stuff is being over stated as he played 40 games last year and if Chelsea were not on a transfer ban apparently they would be in for him as they need a full back.

Admit it he looks a talent

https://youtu.be/PdPgMdqKZsQ

Bernard, as a proud Englishman I'm sure you will enjoy this picture.

Well Kiwi nothing much I can say. Did not watch it but it seems like a heartbreaking end.

Time to think positive. You can wake up next month & know you have a great prime minister & they will have Boris and his bike helmet.

True Gaz ...... don't want this to come across as sour grapes ........ They were in fact tied twice ... the match then after the extra over

England lost all their wickets getting the 241 while NZ only lost eight .... now that surely would be the logical way to assess who won

...... but THEN they give England the win on the basis they had scored more fours and sixes during the match .....

Sounds like they were looking for any formula to guarantee an English victory .

I'm figuring if the fours and sixes had been equal they would have moved on to which team had the most supporters in the crowd .

Maybe the V8 supercar heirarchy is running that event as well .

Mrs Kiwi is a Pom I'll sort out my frustrations give her a damn good beating

After the spurs match I posted that we would be getting Kroenke out protests within 24 months. I stand by this prediction.

Your right he doesn’t have to tell us anything.

The major problem the club has over the next few years will be the prices of tickets don’t justify the entertainment that will be served up at the Emirates so the empty seats will continue as it becomes abundantly clear arsenal can no longer compete at the highest level.

I really don’t think Kroenke cares at all about this, he’s borrowed about 1 billion to buy arsenal and the club is now valued at over 2.7 billion so he’s made 1.7 billion dollars purely from running an unsuccessful football club for 10 years.!!! Money for old rope.

Even if we had an empty stadium for another 10 years the club would be increasing in value anyway because of sponsorship and shares would be going up in value.

The only hope we are is that Kroenke finds a new business venture that requires financing and he needs access to the capital in his arsenal shares and sells. However that would be absolutely crazy on his part as he has made over 1 billion dollars from arsenal for just borrowing money to buy us and doing nothing and that profit will only increase

It’s like buying Buckingham palace letting the whole place rot and get run down over 20 years before selling it for a fortune. Kroenke is a *%^@

The only way I see Kroenke getting rattled is if the stadium is two thirds empty week-on-week and realistically that isn't going to happen.

Not sure how you get rid of an owner who isn't really bothered what the fans think.

Hang on the letter was co signed by Hugh Wizzy and arseblogger

Surely Stan must be feeling the pressure now !

I reckon it could be signed by Trump, Putin and Kim Jong-un and he still wouldn't be rattled.

Welcome back Daz !

Thank you, no way I was missing the opportunity to tousle the hair of my favourite forumite who is probably head-first in a barrel of rum burbling away about Chilean poofters, zionist helicopters, and how unfair it is they didn't change the pre-match formula to favour his poxy little country. And I bet Bernard's inflatable Mertesacker took a bit of a pounding last night.

(nb before anybody comes and tells me, I know the kiwi cricket team are a decent bunch and if I had to lose a final to anybody it would have been them but I'm still *%^@*** glad Lady Luck, Trent "rope" Boult, and our middle order showing up prevented it from happening).

Not to mention the Ben Stokes Moment: 'It was a little with my left arm, a little with the Bat of God.'

File under Lady Luck but yes that was nearly as delightful as Henry's handball for introducing the colonials to the concept of karma.

I hope Hoy has seen the Maradona movie. It is absolutely excellent and while he cannot be said to have a particularly endearing personality, the most striking thing about it is how alone he was in a city where predators waited at every turn. Ronaldo and Messi would have had an army of advisers and fixers; he just had the Camorra preying on him. It is a real indictment of Italy in the 80s - racist to the core - rather than a not especially bright and susceptible kid from a Buenos Aires slum. And yet so huge was his natural talent, he still managed to take a club looking more likely to be relegated and win the Scudetto. Twice. Just extraordinary.

Just to add to the slapped-arsedness of Pete's face, all those bleary eyed Kiwis should read this:

MCC Rule 19:8 states that, in the event of an overthrow, the runs scored are the allowance for the boundary and "the runs completed by the batsmen, together with the run in progress if they had already crossed at the instant of the throw or act."

This image shows that Rashid and Stokes had NOT crossed when Guptil threw in from the boundary, hitting Stokes' bat and going for a boundary. Stokes was given 6 but it should only have been 5.

You'd need a heart of stone not to laugh.

I question that interpretation anyway.

Boundary(4) + runs completed(1) + run in progress (1).

Crossed which crease? It can only mean the crease for the beginning of the run otherwise it wouldn’t make any sense. But whatever if you want to insist it shouldn’t have counted you have at it.

England ICC World Cup champions - it’s engraved now.

EDIT: Not you per se DHD, I know you’re just pointing this out. Albeit I don’t think that’s the correct reading of it.

Afternoon Ash

In this context - "...if they had already crossed at the instant of the throw or act.." crossed refers to batsmen passing each other in the middle of the track - once they've passed each other, they've crossed. It's a definition that triggers other actions as well. It's not about crossing one or other crease.

For Kiwis crying foul, there is another point about that amazing game.

Archer's first ball of the second 'super' over was called as a wide. That was a judgement on the part of Umpire Dharmasena but there's a perfectly reasonable case to argue that it wasn't wide at all. To my eye, the ball was on the blue guide line, not wide of it.

That would have been one less run to NZ and more importantly, one less ball which in the context of that over was worth 1, 2 or 6 runs. If the ball hadn't been called 'wide', that would likely have lopped a minimum of 2 runs off the NZ score - maybe more.

Mind you, there's a blindingly simple and indeed infallible way to resolve all these contentious issues - just read the scorecard in this morning's paper.

Overmars really talking up selling Ziyech. 21 goals and 24 assists last year, overmars saying he’s surprised no-one has properly come in for him yet. If we’re being quoted silly prices for wingers like zaha and Fraser, Ziyech can be got for around £20m and listening to Overmars he’s ready to sell

Respect to Martin Gupthill, to NZ and to Brendon McCallum whose influence and example pervades both teams.