By Cricket. Bloody hell.
That staggering, enthralling, nerve-mangling epic of a final marked the first time England's men have won the Cricket World Cup - the women's team last won in 2017, their fourth title - and for the first time since the 2005 Ashes win, cricket is front-page news.
I watched it with my girlfriend and her mum and dad. None of them are cricket fans, but they were all gripped. This final had more twists and swoops than most summer-spanning five-match Test series.
There were so many moments when it looked for all the world that England were beaten. The long draught in the middle overs as New Zealand's bowlers expertly throttled England's batsmen. Jos Buttler hoiking the ball to Tim Southee. The 24-year-old Jofra Archer starting the Super Over with a wide. Jimmy Neesham's magnificent six the next ball. Roy fumbling to give the Kiwis another precious run a ball later.
Yet there were as many moments when England heaved themselves back into the contest through skill, composure, and sheer force of will: Buttler's ramp shot to flip the ball over his own head to the boundary as the tension mounted; Archer gathering himself after that wide and six to keep New Zealand to seven runs from the last four balls of their Super Over; Ben Stokes running himself to a standstill.
Oh, Ben Stokes, in exhausted tears on the outfield as the July sun began to set. The last time your man on the street heard about him it was probably over his acquittal of affray on a night out in Bristol. Now he was just the last man standing, needing 15 runs off the last four balls, running out of partners, so shattered he could barely stand, but still able to launch a huge six from down on one knee in the last over of the game. He was magnificent.
And then there were moments of the most bizarre fluke. You might have seen Stokes picking up four more runs completely accidentally, when his bat blocked the ball to the boundary as he launched himself toward safety. That was weird. Even stranger and more pivotal was Stokes' attempted hoik for six with eight balls to go. It wasn't quite big enough, and Trent Boult took the catch to get rid of Stokes and almost certainly win the World Cup for New Zealand.
But Boult took one step, two steps back to steady himself, and put half his heel on the boundary. Stokes was reprieved. The six stood. Cricketing lore says that in the 1999 World Cup, Australia's Mark Waugh told South Africa's Herschelle Gibbs he'd "dropped the World Cup" when he couldn't hang onto a catch. In that moment last night, Boult accidentally trod on it. You feel for the Kiwis, who all seem incredibly sound.
Even if England had lost, it would still have been a huge game of cricket. According to Sky, 8.3 million people watched on either their channel and Channel 4, and BBC Sport's online team say they had more than 40 million unique page views on their World Cup final liveblog. That makes it the biggest live story ever, of any description, on the BBC.
That's incredible. I love cricket, but I've been worried that in England the game would eventually be like running a heritage steam railway or the poetry of Seneca - a niche, cloistered pursuit dominated by men wearing bad chinos.
Class and wealth massively skew opportunities. A Social Mobility Commission report published at the end of June, Elitist Britain, pointed out that while seven per cent of the British population went to private fee-paying schools, 43 per cent of England's international men's players did, and 35 per cent of our international women's players. More than 200 state school playing fields have been sold off by the government since 2010, too. Plus, having to pay through the nose for Sky Sports cuts off the game to many.
This win could start to change that. On top of being supremely talented and available to watch on free-to-air TV for one Sunday only, this team has modern England's diversity. That makes a huge difference to its likeability and relatability. Captain Eoin Morgan was born in Dublin, Archer was born in Bridgetown, Barbados, to an English dad; Roy in Durban and Christchurch-born Stokes has Maori ancestry, while Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid are proud British Muslims.
Morgan nodded to that when asked whether the "luck of an Irishman" played a part in the win. "We had Allah with us as well," he said. "I spoke to Adil, he said Allah was definitely with us... it actually epitomises our team. It's diverse backgrounds and cultures and guys grow up in different countries."
Obviously, any new convert to cricket who pitches up at the last day of Essex versus Warwickshire tomorrow expecting a repeat of yesterday is likely to be disappointed. But yesterday's game showed that cricket still has the charms it's always had in every form that's played: that sense of gradually shifting momentum, iron-willed individual performances and an outsized role for luck and misfortune. The casual audience is there for it, if only cricket could get out of its own way. It doesn't need highlights airing at 11pm on weeknights, or weird ticketing arrangements, or a geyser of different formats and teams.
All the noise around the future of the game fell away as Archer ran in to bowl the final ball. My girlfriend and I both leaned towards the TV at exactly the same time and she grabbed my shoulder. A few hours previously she'd not cared at all, but here we were completely consumed by the same moment. Millions across the country did the same. That means as much to cricket as the trophy.
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