ICC CEO Dave Richardson has come out in support of the widely criticised boundary count rule that decided England as the World Cup 2019 winner above New Zealand after a super-over tie in the final at Lord's last Sunday (July 14). 

Both teams posted 241 in their allotted 50 overs before once again scoring 15 runs each off the six balls they faced in the super-over. However, the three lions walked away with their maiden World Cup triumph despite a valiant fight in a thriller from the Black Caps. 

"The context of why that particular rule was put in place a few years ago goes back to when ODI cricket was criticised for becoming a bit boring," Richardson told The Week.

"At that time, we were deciding rules for the Super Over and the suggestion was [to] look at creating something that encouraged attacking play and this was just one of the things introduced. [The thinking then was that] a tie in the Super Over would be very unlikely, so let us encourage attacking play."

Richardson said the officials had to apply the rule in place and there was no option of sharing the trophy after a seven-week-long event. 

"The bottom line is, we want matches to be as entertaining as possible. The Super Over provides that drama. There is no doubt that it is incredibly cruel to decide the game via a Super Over, but at the end it is about finding a winner. That is why people are so passionate about sport."

"Sport is all about winning and losing, and having a decisive winner in the end. I think we are unlikely to see another one like this. There was such drama, [and] such a small margin between winning and losing."

Despite how it ended, Richardson is proud of the way the whole World Cup was organised across 11 venues in UK, especially regarding the decks that offered a pretty welcome balance of competition between both the skills.

"I think pitches contributed to that (quality of cricket). Preparing pitches is not an exact science, and maybe some of the pitches were not as good for batting as some of the batsmen would have liked. But they did provide an even contest between bat and ball. And top-quality batsmen were able to show their skills," he concluded.