Fleming welcomes ‘Super Over’ change
dubai — New Zealand’s World Cup hurt at Old Blighty may resonate for a lifetime but with the International Cricket Council (ICC) wasting no time in redressing it by tweaking the rules, it has gone some way to soothing that pain.
And former Kiwi skipper Stephen Fleming welcomed the new ruling and said it was a fair change.
The ICC’s Chief Executives’ Committee, following a recommendation from the ICC Cricket Committee, while agreeing to retain the Super Over, made a change to the regulation by saying that the Super Over will be repeated until there was a clear result.
“In semifinals and finals, there is one change to the Super Over regulation in keeping with the basic principle of scoring more runs than the opponent to win, the Super Over will be repeated until one team has more runs than the other,” the ICC had said in a statement.
The World Cup final between hosts England and New Zealand was one for the ages with nothing separating the two after the 50 over as well the Super Over. But it was jubilation for Eoin Morgan’s side and despair for Kane Williamson’s men after the hosts were declared the winners on boundary countback.
It triggered criticism across the cricketing world with most saying England may have won the World Cup, but the Kiwis had won hearts.
And Fleming was happy that the flaw had been addressed.
“I think it makes sense, doesn’t it. If you have one, it makes sense to follow it through,” Fleming exclusively told the Khaleej Times.
“It was just unfortunate that no one could sort of foresee that type of result, especially in the final. So, it has been rectified but it has maybe come too late from a New Zealand point of view.
“But the rules were the rules and it was clear that the rules weren’t clear before they played that last part. There was a much more heated discussion. But I think it is a fair change,” he added.
New Zealand have been the eternal bridesmaids, making it to the semifinal an astonishing six times apart from finishing runners-up on successive occasions.
And Fleming, who played 111 Tests, of which he captained 80, and 280 ODIs, hoped that the Black Caps will get another go at the summit.
“The big regret is you don’t get too many opportunities and then have two finals and you get that close. No one is ever going to get closer to winning a World Cup than that and whilst you look forward to the next opportunity, they are very hard to get,” he said.
So, you want to try and certainly make the most of them when you get there. We have to be good enough to earn that right again and I’m sure this group of players will give it a good crack,” added the 46-year-old, who coaches Delhi Bulls in the Abu Dhabi T10 League and the Chennai Super Kings in the IPL.