After a controversial world cup final, Cricket Australia has "Learned from Mistakes" of ICC to avoid further controversies.
England required 3 runs of 2 deliveries against New Zealand to be called champions for the first time. After 2 successive run-outs in 2 deliveries, the match went into the super-over. Both the teams scored 15 runs in Super Over but England were crowned champions on boundary count of 26-17. This caused a lot of discussion and debate.
Cricket Australia searched for many options to avoid similar scenario in BBL and WBBL. In previous additions of WBBL super over had ties and that's what inspired Cricket Australia
"The Super Over has been a discussion point globally after the ICC Cricket World Cup Final. The WBBL04 Semi-Final between the Sydney Sixers and Melbourne Renegades gave us valuable insight into the feelings of teams and fans towards Super Overs” Peter Dobson, Cricket Australia’s head of Big Bash Leagues, said.
CA on Tuesday brought in a new set of rules for BBL and WBBL which states that if the super over ended in a tie, instead of boundary count the winner will be decided by playing an another super over.
The new rule applies to all matches in the final series, while a tied Super Over in a regular-season game will see the points divided.
The new playing conditions implemented by Cricket Australia allow "unlimited" number of super overs to be played, but in case of "unavoidable time restraints" such as venue regulations and broadcast constraints, the number of super overs that can be played will be curtailed and in such cases, the team that finished higher in the points table will be declared the champions.
On the other hand, a tied Super Over in a round-robin match would see the two teams split points with each other. Earlier, the boundary count rule was used to split the two teams in such a scenario.
CA's head of Big Bash Leagues, Alistair Dobson, said multiple Super Overs was the best way to resolve a tie. "We hope that allowing for multiple Super Overs in WBBL and BBL Finals will provide our teams and fans with the best possible experience," he said. We look forward to another competitive season for both leagues and believe we have a strong system in place should a nail-biting knockout match arise."
ICC Chief executive Geoff Allardice said that it's cricket committee which is chaired by former Indian coach Anil Kumble and featuring former players such as Andrew Strauss, Mahela Jayawardena, Rahul Dravid and Shaun Pollock, will "consider issues arising from the World Cup final" at their next meeting in early 2020.
This could leave open the possibility that the boundary countback rule could be changed ahead of the men's T20 World Cup, to be played in Australia in October-November 2020.
Is this a good idea?
While this certainly comes as exciting news for cricketing fans, especially T20 viewer's. Firstly, T20 is all about keeping the game short. On that note, extending a Super Over to multiple ones hardly makes any sense.
Tied super overs before
In 2014 Rajasthan Royals were playing against Kolkata Knight Riders in Abu Dhabi. After both teams scored 152 in their 20 overs, they regrouped for a Super Over. Kolkata Knight Riders made 11, and with one ball remaining, Royals had made nine. The next ball, Smith walks out and pushes the ball through extra cover ran an easy double, levelling the match again and taking Rajasthan Royals to a thrilling win on the basis of a greater number of boundaries scored in the match.
