A night of last gasp, sporting moments

Sporting fans have had an overdose of thrilling, last gasp, tense contests in the last few hours/

Roger Federer returns against Novak Djokovic during their marathon final. Picture: AFP.

Sporting fans have had an overdose of thrilling, last gasp, tense contests in the last few hours — and if you had Wimbledon final or the Cricket World Cup on record for an early morning catch-up, catch up, look away now.

Wow, just wow. It has been one of the most incredible days of sporting history.

First the epic Wimbledon classic between Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic resulted in a gruelling five setter, with the result coming down to a newly introduced rule of a tie break if the score is 12-12 in the fifth.

Of course the game went to such an outcome, despite Federer having two championship points two games earlier.

And with both players regurgitating yet more magnificent rallies, drop shots and superb passing shots, it was Djokovic who triumphed to win his fifth Wimbledon title — the longest final in history — after four hours and 57 minutes.

The score: 7-6 (7-5) 1-6 7-6 (7-4) 4-6 13-12 (7-3).

Said Djokovic, getting his trophy from the Duchess of Cambridge and Prince William: “Well I think this was the most exciting and thrilling final I have ever been part of. We both had our chances and it is quite unreal to be two match points down and come back.”

Then from SW19 to Lord’s, and New Zealand had set England a tally of 241, and incredibly they responded in kind. England accumulated 241 as well including, it must be said a bizarre couple of runs when Ben Stokes bat accidentally hit the ball on a throw at the stumps. Usually when that happens it’s cricketing convention for the batsmen to not run. But the ball went to the boundary and the umpires couldn’t do anything but add the four runs to the total. It was Stoke’s lucky day, as earlier a soaring hit was caught on the boundary, but the fielder touched the boundary rope, meaning not only was Stokes not out, he was given a six.

A tied score brings about a “super over’’ where each team has just one over. England batted first and accumulated 15. New Zealand, facing Jofra Archer, had to get two runs off the last ball to win.

Martin Guptill slashed it out to the deep, they run one, return for the second and the bails are whipped off by wicketkeeper Jos Buttler. New Zealand is out, and England win the World Cup. The crowd — and the players, go wild.

Ben Stokes, who engineered England back into the game, said: “It feels pretty good — I am lost for words to be honest. So much hard work has gone in, this is what we aspire to be. I don’t think there will ever be a better game in cricket than that.

He added: “I have apologised countless times for that fluke, it’s not how you want to get them. There was no chance I wasn’t going to bat in that Super Over.”

New Zealander Kane Williamson expressed the bitter disappointment of how close they had come to victory: “The guys are shattered. It’s devastating. Tough to swallow.”

For the fans though, it has been a thrilling day on the couch — and in between breaks, the remotes were working overtime, switching to the Tour de France and the Formula 1 at Silverstone.