New Zealand were at the receiving end of ICC tie-breaker rules in the World Cup 2019 final against England at Lord’s. The two teams posted 241 in their allotted 50 overs before the game went into the Super Over where once again they levelled tie. However, the hosts were declared winner on the basis of boundary count.
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Almost a year later, Kiwi coach Gary Stead reflected on that heart-stopping finale and admitted that he still feels “numb” about the eventual outcome.
"I do think about it a bit, I think everyone has really different emotions around it," Stead quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo. "The thing that stands out for me is that it's all a bit numb, really, in some ways but enormously proud of the way we played the whole tournament. As a Kiwi and as a supporter of the Blackcaps it was hard to be any more proud of the way they played and fought in that match.
"I think there's a wee bit of hurt from time to time and I guess any Kiwi fan is probably very much in that same boat. There's no bitterness at all, we understood the rules going into the match. It's a hard one because there's some great emotions that came from that tournament as well, but unfortunately it was just that final hurdle we didn't cross. It's something I'm sure will drive the players to keep wanting to get better every day.
"It's gone pretty quick although a lot has happened in the world since then. We've certainly had some unsettling and difficult times. I think back, sometimes it feels like 10 years ago sometimes it feels like one minute ago. It's certainly a match that evoked a lot of high and pretty good emotions around it if you take away that last ball or two."
The high-voltage final had also witnessed a controversial overthrow. With England needing 9 runs from the last three balls, New Zealand opener Martin Guptill threw the ball from deep square leg which accidentally hit the outstretched bat of a diving Ben Stokes and went to the boundary. In total, the home team were awarded six runs – four for the resulting boundary and two for the batsmen’s running between the wickets.
Following the match, some experts including former umpire Simon Taufel opined that umpire Kumar Dharmasena made ‘an error of judgment’ in applying an unclear clause in the MCC’s laws and England should have been awarded five runs instead of six.
Asked if he had watched the match back, Stead replied: "I haven't watched it ball-by-ball. I know what happened, don't worry. I don't know if I will. Things like the Super Over comes on highlights now and again, but there's only so many times you can watch it because you can't change the result. The close results like that produce the spectacles you want in international cricket and for that you can thank England and the Blackcaps for the way they played that game."
