The New Zealand national cricket team has been awarded MCC’s Christopher Martin-Jenkins Spirit of Cricket award for 2019. The team is awarded for putting up an exceptional level of sportsmanship and selflessness in the final game of the prestigious world tournament – ICC Cricket World Cup 2019.
The Kiwi players gained praise from all around the globe for their humility shown by the team after the defeat. New Zealand put up a good fight but eventually, England lifted their maiden trophy on the basis of the boundary count. In the epic finale of the World Cup 2019, the runs were tied in both the 50-over match and the Super Over.
Even the president of MCC, Kumar Sangakkara lauded the rich sportsmanship that the cricketers had put forth in that game. He denoted the team as the worthy winners of the Spirit of Cricket award.
Sangakkara said: “The New Zealand team are worthy winners of this award. In the heat of battle, they displayed a level of sportsmanship that was fitting for such a fantastic final, and indeed tournament.”
“It is a testament to their squad that even after a match that will live long in the memory for the cricket that was played, we are still talking about the spirit of cricket. Their actions deserve this recognition,” he concluded.
As quoted by the MCC President and the former skipper of Sri Lanka, the World Cup final is a game that will be etched in every cricketer and cricket lovers’ mind for long. Only a handful of times such a game is witnessed in the sports world.
New Zealand showed a marvellous level of humility and took head-on the defeat in the World Cup final
On July 14, England and New Zealand entered the Lord’s cricket stadium with the intensity to win their maiden World Cup trophy. England had already entered as the tournament favourite while the Black Caps were considered as the underdogs of the tournament.
And true to their titles, the two teams gave an unforgetting competition to each other. The runs scored by both the teams were tied, even after the Super Overs. Thereafter, England finally lifted their maiden World Cup trophy as they were declared the winners on the basis of the number of boundaries hit by each team.
Meanwhile, the award was previously won by – Wayne Madsen of Derbyshire, Sussex’s Luke Wright, Brendon McCullum of New Zealand, Tom Fell of Worcestershire and England’s Anya Shrubsole.
The CMJ Spirit of Cricket award was created by the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and BBC in 2013. It was created in the memory of former MCC President and BBC Test Match Special commentator Christopher Martin-Jenkins (“CMJ”). He was passionate about promoting the spirit of the game.