Ten teams, one table
The field was cut from fourteen to ten and the pools were scrapped. Every side played the other nine, which guaranteed each of them nine matches and guaranteed nobody else a place. It was a format designed to reward consistency over six weeks and it largely did, though four matches produced no result inside the opening fortnight and the teams on the wrong end of that never recovered the points.
England had spent four years building for precisely this. After going out in the group stage in 2015 they rebuilt a batting order that treated 350 as ordinary, went top of the rankings, and arrived as favourites. Then they lost to Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Australia, and needed to beat India and New Zealand in the final week simply to survive. They won both. New Zealand crept into fourth on net run rate ahead of Pakistan, then bowled India out for 221 at Old Trafford in a semi-final that ran into its reserve day. Australia, who had topped the table, were beaten by eight wickets at Edgbaston.
The fourteenth of July
New Zealand batted first at Lord's and made 241 for 8 on a slow pitch. England were 86 for 4 in the 24th over. Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler added a hundred for the fifth wicket, and when Buttler fell England still wanted 46 from five overs. Fifteen were needed from the last. Stokes hit a six, then drove towards midwicket, ran two, and Martin Guptill's throw deflected off his diving bat and away for four. The umpires signalled six. England lost their last two wickets attempting a second run each time and finished on exactly 241. Tied.
The Super Over was the first in the history of one-day internationals. Stokes and Buttler took 15 from Trent Boult. Guptill and James Neesham needed 16 from Jofra Archer, got a wide and a six, and came to the final ball wanting two. Guptill hit it to deep midwicket, turned for the second, and Jason Roy's throw to Buttler beat him home. Fifteen each. Tied again.
The playing conditions then applied boundary countback: with the Super Over level, the title went to whichever side had struck more fours and sixes across the match and the Super Over combined. England had 26, New Zealand 17. That is how the World Cup was won.
Afterwards
The rule did not survive the argument it caused. In October 2019 the ICC scrapped boundary countback and replaced it with repeated Super Overs until one side actually wins. The MCC reviewed the overthrow law as well, after Simon Taufel pointed out that Stokes and Adil Rashid had not crossed when Guptill released the ball, so England should have had five runs rather than six. Kumar Dharmasena later accepted the error. Kane Williamson was player of the tournament, Rohit Sharma made 648 runs and Mitchell Starc took 27 wickets, more than anyone had managed in a World Cup before. None of it is what the fourteenth of July is remembered for.