New Zealand’s Gary Stead favours sharing trophy for future tied finals after England win
Written by News on 17/07/2019
New Zealand coach Gary Stead believes sharing the World Cup in the event of a tied final should be considered for future tournaments.
The Kiwis missed out on the trophy in agonising fashion at Lord’s on Sunday, when England matched their total of 241, with the two sides then unable to be separated after a super over.
However, Eoin Morgan’s side won the tournament having hit more boundaries than New Zealand during the final.
While Stead was as magnanimous in defeat as captain Kane Williamson had been on Sunday, he did question whether a tournament that spanned 46 days should be decided by such narrow parameters.
When asked whether the ICC should award both sides the crown in the event of a tie, Stead said: “I’m sure when they were writing the rules they never expected a World Cup final like that.
“I’m sure it’ll be reviewed. Perhaps when you play over a seven-week period and you can’t be separated on the final day then that is something that should be considered.
“But that’s one consideration over a whole lot of things that went on over the World Cup.
“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.
“It’s unfortunate it comes down to one ball right at the end of the tournament when we’ve been here for seven weeks playing some really good cricket. It will be raw for a long time.”
New Zealand had some luck go against them, most notably when Martin Guptill’s throw at the stumps saw a diving Ben Stokes inadvertently deflect the ball away to the boundary via his bat.
Six runs were added to the total, but former international umpire Simon Taufel said on Monday that England should have been awarded only five because Stokes and Adil Rashid had not crossed when the throw was released.
A law in the MCC’s rulebook would seem to support Taufel’s view, but Stead added: “I didn’t actually know that. The umpires are there to rule and they’re human as well and, like players, sometimes errors are made.
“It’s just the human aspect of sport and probably why we all care about it so much as well. We can’t change that now. It will go down in history as one that got away from us.”
(c) Sky News 2019: New Zealand’s Gary Stead favours sharing trophy for future tied finals after England win
