After disheartening 2019 World Cup final loss, New Zealand coach Gary Stead asks ICC to review rules

New Zealand’s heart-breaking loss in the final of the cricket World Cup 2019 against England is something that their supporters are yet to overcome. The Kiwis had two ties with England in the scheduled 100-over game and the Super Over following it but yet lost the clash because they had hit less boundaries than England – a rule that many found too bizarre to digest.

On Tuesday, Black Caps coach Gary Stead called for the International Cricket Council (ICC) rules to go under review as he felt “very, very hollow” after failing to win the cup just on technical grounds. India batsman Rohit Sharma and former cricketer Yuvraj Singh also refused to agree with the rules.

‘Very, very hollow feeling’

“It’s a very, very hollow feeling that you can play 100 overs and score the same amount of runs and still lose the game, but that’s the technicalities of sport,” Deccan Chronicle cited reports as quoting Stead, 47.

“There’s going to be many things they look at over the whole tournament — I’m sure when they were writing the rules they never expected a World Cup final to happen like that. I’m sure it’ll be reviewed (and) there are many different ways that they’ll probably explore.”

Even in the 100th over of the match, something went against New Zealand and the experts were left with the opinion that it was not right. A throw from Martin Guptill had deflected off the bat of Ben Stokes as he dived for the second run and it went for four runs. England were awarded six runs in that ball by the on-field umpire although experts felt they should have gone five. The difference by a solitary run would have seen the match ending in favour of New Zealand since the match ended in a tie after 100 overs.

Stead, who had played five Tests for New Zealand in 1999, shrugged off suggestions that the home team had been mistakenly awarded an extra run and refused to hold the umpires responsible for the goof-up. “I didn’t actually know that. But at the end of the day, the umpires are there to rule. They’re human as well, like players, and sometimes there’s a mistake but that’s just the human aspect of the sport.”

New Zealand won the toss and elected to bat first and scored 241 for 8 in 50 overs. England were all out for 241 in the final ball of their allotted 50 overs. In the Super Over, England made 15 for no loss while New Zealand made 15 for the loss of one wicket.