Neesham mocks boundary change
Black Caps allrounder Jimmy Neesham had to console a shattered batting partner Martin Guptill after they lost an epic Cricket World Cup final to England on a boundary countback.
Not surprisingly, Neesham was unimpressed at news the International Cricket Council has now scrapped that method of deciding big tournaments three months after the little-known rule was used to split the finalists when they tied a Super Over at Lord’s.
‘‘Next on the agenda: Better binoculars for the ice spotters on the Titanic,’’ Neesham wrote on Twitter with a link to a story about the rule change.
Former batting coach Craig McMillan, whose final match with the Black Caps was the Lord’s decider, was similarly irked.
‘‘Bit late ICC,’’ he tweeted, before drawing attention to another controversial moment when England scored a bonus four runs via the bat of man-ofthe-match Ben Stokes as he dived to beat a Guptill throw at the stumps.
McMillan wrote: ‘‘How about fixing the other rule issue ICC ...... a dead ball once the ball has hit/ deflected from a batsman??’’
England were awarded six runs for that freakish incident but on-field umpires Kumar Dharmasena and Marais Erasmus were later revealed to have got it wrong.
Former top umpire Simon Taufel pointed out they should have awarded only five as Stokes hadn’t crossed with his batting partner for the second run when Guptill unleashed his throw.
After board meetings in Dubai, the ICC resolved that in semifinals and finals in future world tournaments, if the teams score the same number of runs in their Super Overs, the Super Over will be repeated until one team wins.
Had the new rules been in place for the July 14 final, England and New Zealand would have played another Super Over, rather than the game being decided on the technicality of England having scored more boundaries across their 50 overs.
Former Black Caps coach New Zealand Cricket chief executive David White chose his words carefully but his sentiments were clear.
‘‘It’s good that future World Cup tie-breakers will be decided on the field. We can’t change the past; what’s happened has happened but we’re pleased to see the ICC employing a better solution,’’ White said in a statement.