‘Super Sunday’ was underhyping what turned out to be an incredible day's sport

Those headline writers got it slightly wrong – they undersold it.

If you were not gripped first by Lewis Hamilton’s sixth British Grand Prix win and then by the Wimbledon men’s final, followed by the most dramatic cricket match ever played then sport really isn’t your thing, is it?

Any film director thinking the time is right to bring another cricket tale to the big screen should take some advice: Leave the 2019 World Cup final alone. You will never be able to match it for thrills and spills. And nobody would believe it anyway.

For stomach-churning, nail biting sporting drama, Sunday, July 14 is the day to remember.

We could argue forever about how a World Cup Final that was drawn twice but ended with England as the new champions because of some little-known ruling about the number of boundaries scored on the day but both teams knew what was needed in the super over even if most of us didn’t.

Stories of Ben Stokes, the exile who tormented his fellow Kiwis and was the man of the match, of skipper Eoin Morgan, the Irishman who dreamed of playing for England while still at school and of Jofra Archer, who bowled that crucial super over will fill many rainy hours in clubhouses throughout the land for years to come.

Just like the players of 1966 and 2003, the cricketers of 2019 can claim the status of national sporting heroes.

If your remote control buttons were close to melting point, you were clearly switching over for quick glances at that other early-evening spectacular over at SW19. The world’s finest tennis players served up the longest – many will say greatest – final ever to grace Centre Court.

Not an Englishman in sight (we can’t have everything), but Djokovic versus Federer has nothing to do with national allegiances- the joy of watching masters of their sport in action is more than enough.

In the end, somebody had to lose, but not before the match went on for as long as the rules will allow – a tie-break victory for Novak Djokovic in the fifth set.

You might expect a combination of the best driver and the best car to finish first in any Grand Prix but for Lewis Hamilton his victory at Silverstone was a record sixth and experts in the sport already have him down as the finest driver ever.

He is certainly so far ahead in the Drivers’ Championship he can probably afford to take a couple of weeks off and put his feet up… just like Morgan’s men and Novak Djokovic.

Best in the world – it sounds good.

*The decision to scrap plans for a new stadium in Workington means that Cumbria loses out on the chance to stage three matches in the 2021 Rugby League World Cup – a serious blow to the county’s status as fully fledged members of the heartlands.

And despite the number of players from the county wearing the colours of Super League growing all the time, this corner of world is in danger of slipping off the map altogether when it comes to staging the occasional money-making representative game.

Well, now’s the chance for the men at rugby league HQ to show a bit of commitment to Cumbria. Jamaica are over here in October to play England Knights at Headingley. A warm-up game against a Cumbria Select might soften the blow of losing those World Cup games just a little bit.

At least it would show that we have not been forgotten altogether after the idea of a contrived Cumbria club to play in Super League was binned as a non-starter – the sort of hair-brained idea to put alongside Liverpool and Barcelona as possible new venues.

Or if Jamaica are a bit worried about playing Cumbria, England Knights would be more than welcome.

*Is this a sign of things to come?

Under the heading of ‘Stories You Need to Know’ came this little snippet.

“During the Women’s World Cup in France, VAR was used in relation to 535 incidents across 52 games .That is ten a match in round figures.

Reviews came at one every 1.58 games and 29 of the decisions were changed.”

Is this what we have to look forward to in the Premier League? And is it what we want – a sport refereed, not on the pitch but from a bunker hidden somewhere deep in the unknown by a TV viewer?

VAR is an attempt to achieve the impossible – perfection. Penalty decisions, bookable fouls, deliberate handball are all matters for an opinion, not stone cold fact.

Leave those opinions to the man in the middle before the monster that has engulfed rugby takes over football.

Remember, the hidden VAR man will scrutinise every goal and any bootlace that strays offside will mean a goal is disallowed.