England lift maiden ICC World Cup trophy after super over win against New Zealand
London, July 14: England lifted their maiden ICC World Cup trophy, beating a battle-hardened New Zealand in a nerve-wracking final that was decided via a dramatic Super Over here Sunday.
Opting to bat, New Zealand once again put up a modest batting performance under overcast conditions to post 241 for eight against a quality England pace attack that kept on asking probing questions.
In reply, appearing in their fourth tournament final, 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, who kept the hosts in the game with a brilliant 84 off 98 balls, and Jos Buttler made 15, 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.
In the 50-over contest, England hit 24 boundaries while New Zealand had 16. And, in the Super Over, the home team blasted two fours, and Kane Williamson's team hit a six.
This was after Colin de Grandhomme produced the most economical 10-over spell in a World Cup final since Derek Pringle's 3/22 in 1992, finishing with figures of 1/21, while the Lockie Ferguson and Jimmy Neesham chipped in with three wickets each.
Earlier, Henry Nicholls (55 off 77 balls) and skipper Kane Williamson (30 off 53) added 74 runs for the second wicket after a fabulous first spell from Chris Woakes (3/37 in 9 overs) and Jofra Archer (1/42 in 10 overs) on a helpful Lord's track.
During his stay in the middle, Williamson also became the captain with most number of runs in a single World Cup, breaking the 12-year-old record of former Sri Lanka skipper Mahela Jayawardene who had amassed 548 runs in the 2007 edition.
While Woakes had the best figures statistically, it was the tall Liam Plunkett (3/42 in 10 overs), who used the cross-seam variations effectively to stop the Black Caps on their tracks
In their chase, England lost Jason Roy for a 17 and then saw Joe Root (7) and Jonny Bairstow (36) getting dismissed to leave the hosts reeling at 71 for three in the 20th over. It became worse when Lockie Ferguson took a brilliant diving catch running in from the deep to send back skipper Eoin Morgan (9) as England slipped to 86 for four in the 24th over.
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Punjab: 16 private schools in Mohali receive bomb threat emails
Chandigarh (PTI): Sixteen private schools in Punjab's Mohali received bomb threat emails on Wednesday, triggering evacuation and prompting detailed anti-sabotage checks by police, an officer said.
No suspicious or explosive material was discovered at any of the locations after thorough inspections, the officer said.
School authorities sent messages to parents, declaring a holiday. Students on their way to school were sent back home, they said.
Manav Mangal School, Shivalik Public School, and Learning Paths School were among the schools which received the bomb threat emails.
The police said they swung into action after school authorities reported receiving the emails between 7.30 am and 8 am.
Security was mounted at the targeted schools, and intensive searches were carried out, they said.
"The police teams led by superintendents of police, deputy superintendents of police and other officials were rushed to the schools along with anti-sabotage teams and bomb disposal squads," Mohali Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Harmandeep Singh Hans told reporters.
Around 300 policemen were involved in the search operation, and all targeted schools were evacuated, he said.
The checking of all schools was completed within about two-and-a-half hours with the support of additional force and specialised teams from neighbouring districts of Fatehgarh Sahib, Rupnagar, and Chandigarh headquarters, Hans said.
"No explosive material was found at any of the locations," he added.
The search operations were supervised by SP City Dilpreet Singh, along with SPs Navneet Singh Mahal, Mohit Aggarwal, Sukhnaz Singh, Ramandeep Singh and Talwinder Singh Gill; DSP City-1 Prithvi Singh Chahal, DSP City-2 Harsimran Singh Bal and all station house officers.
Schools covered during the search included Amity School, Doon School, Learning Paths, Gurukul School, Vivek High School, Paragon School, YPS School, Lawrence School, and Gem Public School.
An FIR is being lodged, and the case has been referred to the Cyber Police Station, Phase-7, Mohali, to ascertain the origin of the threatening email and conduct an investigation, Hans said.
The latest scare comes close on the heels of similar threat incidents in Chandigarh, Amritsar, Jalandhar, Patiala, and schools in Haryana, all of which turned out to be hoaxes.
