ICC World Cup 2019: Who would’ve won had the ‘boundary count’ in the final too ended in a tie?

The 2019 World Cup final between England and New Zealand came to a rather dramatic end. The encounter at the iconic Lord’s Cricket Ground went down to the Super Over after both teams got tied on 241 runs. Even in the one-over eliminator, the Brits and the Kiwis notched 15 runs. Martin Guptill was run out in the last delivery of the over and the Three Lions won the championship.

It was also England’s maiden World Cup after they qualified for the finals for the first time since 1992 when Imran Khan’s Pakistan defeated them. Eoin Morgan and Co were declared the winners since they had hit more number of boundaries (50 overs plus Super Over). The decision to hand the trophy to England at the Home of Cricket triggered a massive outrage on social media because of the ‘boundary count’.

After the jaw-dropping encounter, Kane Williamson, the Black Caps’ skipper, said that his team didn’t lose the game and there was only one winner. Even as the ICC’s rules remain the same, the question is — what would have happened had the boundary count been the same for both teams?

Here are more details

Rule Number 1: If the number of boundaries in the above case is also equal, in that scenario, boundary scored in the 50 overs played by both teams (Super Over excluded) would have been counted.

Rule Number 2: In a rare scenario, even if after applying the above two scenarios, the count is still equal, in that case, a count-back would have been taken from the final balls faced by both teams in the Super Over and the side with the higher scoring delivery would have won.

For example, if both teams faced six balls in the Super Over, where one side scored four runs off the final ball and the other side scored six off their final delivery, the second side would have been the winner. Whichever was the last delivery faced by two teams in the Super Over (in case if a team lost 2 wickets and had faced just 4 balls in Super Over) would have been taken into account and the team that scored more runs off its final delivery would have lifted the trophy.