Simon Wilde traces the history of cricket’s tie-breakers and its various outcome deciding norms, including the boundary-count rule that determined the outcome of the 2019 World Cup final in the 2020 Wisden Almanack.
First published in the 2020 Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack
“I don’t know how they won it,” said Kane Williamson. “What was it, boundaries or something?” He spoke for many. Until the World Cup final unfolded, many observers were ignorant of the super-over clause; fewer still had any idea about boundary countback.
Random? Yes. But how do you settle a tied – or washed-out – one-day match? It is a problem with which administrators have long wrestled.
English one-day cricket was a year old when, in 1964, Somerset beat Nottinghamshire in the Gillette Cup by virtue of losing fewer wickets following a tie. In 1981, Derbyshire benefited from the rule to win both the semi-final and the final, each time batting second. But when Leicestershire beat Hampshire in 1995, a secondary tie-breaker was required: score after 30 overs.
Boundary countback was first used to settle a T20 match in the Caribbean in 2010, when sixes were the determining factor, and was available at the 2011 World Cup and for the 2015 World Cup final. As if New Zealand hadn’t suffered enough, in October the ICC abolished the countback rule. While group games at global events could now include a super over, the game would be tied if the super over finished level.
As for knockout matches, the super over would now be repeated until it proved decisive – a proposal several pundits suggested after the 2019 final. In all, ten games have been decided by some form of boundary countback.
