London, Policenama Online –New Zealand head coach Gary Stead believes the possibility of sharing the World Cup is something that “should be considered” by the International Cricket Council (ICC) after the Black Caps lost to England in the finals of the 2019 World Cup at Lord’s.
On Sunday, two dramatic run-outs in the final over of England’s innings took the game into a Super Over with the scores tied on 241 after the end of 50 overs against New Zealand. However, with the Super Over also ending in a tie, the winner of the showpiece event was decided by the number of boundaries scored.
England scored 26 boundaries in total in the entire duration of the match as compared to 17 by the Black Caps and were thus crowned as champions.
Asked during a media interaction at the team hotel whether he would have preferred New Zealand being declared joint winners, Stead was open to the suggestion.
“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,” ESPNcricinfo quoted Stead as saying. “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.”
However, Craig McMillan, New Zealand’s batting coach believed that sharing the trophy would have been 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,” said McMillan.