New Zealand’s head coach Gary Stead and New Zealand batting coach Craig McMillan have suggested that sharing the World Cup may be an option to consider in scenarios such as Sunday’s final.
England won the World Cup after a tie in the 50-over match before being unable to be separated once again in the Super Over. However, because England scored more boundaries then New Zealand across the match they were awarded the World Cup.
Gary Stead believed that now might be the right time to review the rules for if a similar situation was to arise again.
“Perhaps when you play over a seven-week period and can’t be separated on the final day, that is something should be considered as well,” Stead said when asked about whether the World Cup should have been shared.
“But again that’s one consideration over a whole lot of things that went on over the World Cup. Everything will be reviewed, and I think that it’s a good time to do it now. But probably just let the dust settle for a while.”
The comments come after an intense finish which saw several potentially decisive moments at the end of the match including four overthrows after the ball deflected off Stokes bat and Trent Boult stepping on the boundary trying to take a difficult Ben Stokes catch. In the super-over itself Jofra Archer then saw a marginal wide call go against him for a ball that may have been deemed legal on another day.
New Zealand batting coach Craig McMillan agreed that a shared World Cup should be considered as he suggested sharing the trophy “would be the right thing to do.”
“It is not going to change yesterday’s result. But what is probably fair to say at the end of seven weeks in a big tournament like this, when you have two teams can’t be separated after a 50-over match and then a Super Over and neither team did actually lose in many ways in terms of runs scored.
“Then perhaps sharing the trophy would be the right thing to do. Wasn’t to be yesterday, which we all are disappointed with. But it is sport and those were the rules.”
The Super Over has only been a tiebreaker in World Cups since 2011 and this was the first time it has ever been used in a World Cup Final.
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