What a weekend it has been for sport here in the UK. We had the finals of Wimbledon, the ICC Cricket World Cup and the British Grand Prix all competing for spectators and support on Sunday, and they did not disappoint!
Lewis Hamilton took a record sixth British Grand Prix victory and remains top of the current standings by 39 points after surpassing fellow Brit Jim Clark and Alain Prost’s five win records at Silverstone. Following the dramatic race Hamilton went on to say that winning on home soil is "the greatest single moment of any athlete in the world - to raise their flag as the number one or with the gold or whatever it may be.” The collision between the Verstappen and Vettel was the real talking point of the race however, with the German receiving a 10-second penalty and two points on his super license.
After Simona Halep’s impressive win over Serena Williams and her maiden Wimbledon title, it was then all eyes on the men. Novak Djokovic's epic five-set win over Roger Federer in the longest Wimbledon singles final attracted a peak TV audience of 9.6 million on BBC 1 and was game that will go down in history. Lasting four hours 57 minutes Djokovic managed to save two championship points at the end to retain his title and claim his fifth Wimbledon win. Federer had been seeking to become the oldest Grand Slam champion of the Open era, however the Serb managed to hold his nerve in the 50/50 moments and snatched victory right out of Federer’s grasp despite the stats stating that Federer constantly had the upper hand. In the post-match interview Djokovic said that “it was probably the most demanding, mentally most demanding, match I was ever part of”, and by the looks of the crowd they were also feeling the emotions of the players! Federer still holds the all-time men's Grand Slam record of 20 singles titles but Djokovic now has 16 with Nadal on 18 meaning the gap is ever closing.
And for the perfect end to an incredible day of sport, England won the men's Cricket World Cup for the first time with the most incredible finish ever seen! It came down to the wire in the low scoring game with England needing 15 off the last over. With Ben Stokes at the crease having just escaped being caught out on the boundary by Trent Boult, it was all down to him. The crowd were up on their feet after a glorious six and England needed nine runs from three balls. Stokes then tapped the ball for two; however, as the throw came in the ball deflected off his bat and flew to the boundary as he was diving to safety, giving them six runs rather than two, much to the delight of the English supporters and agony of the Kiwis. They succeed in getting two more runs in the next two deliveries, despite both also being run outs, and that was that, the match was tied with both teams on 241. This then led on to the super over.
This unheard of scenario meant that England had an over to score as many runs as they could, and with Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler sent to the crease they managed to score a solid fifteen off their six balls with a couple of strong boundaries. New Zealand then needed to score 16 runs off 24 year old Jofra Archer’s bowling. He had a shaky start with a wide and a six from Jimmy Neesham, sending everyone to the edge of their seats, but he managed to get it down to the last ball where they needed to get two runs, one would not be enough to win due to the fact that England had scored more boundaries. Martin Guptill tried to get back for two runs after pushing the ball deep into the field, however England were fielding tightly and managed to get the ball back to the keeper Jos Buttler who got the run out and it was utter ecstasy for England and all the supporters watching! A deafening cheer rang out around Lord’s cricket ground as everyone celebrated with their friends and neighbours. Once everyone had caught their breathe and brought their blood pressure down to a normal level, England lifted the World Cup for the first time at the Home of Cricket in front of a home crowd and it couldn’t have been a more fitting end to the World Cup and the last four years under Eoin Morgan’s captaincy.
For anyone at Silverstone, Wimbledon or Lord’s it was a day they will never forget and it is certainly up there as being one of the best weekends of sport ever, if not, the best we have seen in the UK.
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