New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson tells of his shock at learning World Cup final would be decided on countback
England famously won the ICC World Cup on a boundary countback but Kiwi captain Kane Williamson admits he had no idea the rule was in place.
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Kane Williamson had no idea that a boundary countback could decide this year’s World Cup final just minutes before the farcical rule gifted England the trophy.
The New Zealand captain was padded up and ready to bat if required in the epic Super Over at Lord’s when coach Gary Stead broke the news that was about to break his heart.
“It was halfway through the Super Over and I was like, ‘What happens if this is a tie?’” Williamson told the Sunday Herald Sun in an exclusive interview.
“(Stead) said, ‘It goes on boundaries’. I was like ‘A boundary count. What’s that? Fours and sixes? Who’s got more boundaries?’”
Stead replied: “They do”, to which Williamson said: “Oh .. sh-t.”
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But Williamson – who landed in Perth on Saturday night to lead the world’s No.2 team in the three-Test series against Australia – refused to cry foul.
“You don’t really consider ties being an option, ey? It was there – but who reads those (rule) books?” the humble captain said.
“From a cricket perspective, we’ve played hundreds of games of cricket before and you know what winning and looks like and that kind of didn’t look like losing.
“So you’re kind of going, ‘How does this work?’
“We sign up and play by the rules and they were in the rules, weren’t they?
“Whether you know the rules or not, I don’t think it makes much of a difference if it’s not really a focus on how you play.
“No one really goes out and says, ‘Just in case we tie two cricket matches (we better hit more boundaries)’.
“That’s why I suppose it was difficult to understand how that could decide a game.”
The ICC promptly abolished the boundary countback rule and Cricket Australia has followed, eliminating it from the Big Bash.
From now on Super Overs will be repeated until there is a clear winner in the event of a tie.
England and New Zealand endured bumpy World Cup campaigns – they were in danger of missing the semi-finals before sneakinginto third and fourth – and Williamson said that helped soothe the pain.
“In some ways everybody deserved to win it, and everybody deserved to lose it,” he said.
“No one was robbed – we all played by the rules, and someone else decided the next bit and it went in their favour. What doyou do?”
“The rules weren’t made up afterwards. It’s not like you can moan your way through it – they were there.”
Williamson was named player of the tournament, blasting 578 runs at an average of 82.6.
When an ICC official told Williamson on the field after the final, footage of a shocked Williamson saying “Me?!” went viral.
Childhood idol Sachin Tendulkar presented Williamson the trophy, which is at his parent’s house.
“I didn’t know the cameras were on me, because we were out of the way and getting put into lines and told what to do,” Williamsonsaid.
Kiwi great Stephen Fleming said the Black Caps were in a state of “pure shock” as England broke out into raucous celebrations.
In the 49th over of England’s chase, Stokes was incorrectly awarded six runs when Martin Guptill’s throw deflected off hisbat and raced to the rope.
It was later revealed that Stokes should’ve been given five runs.
“There were so many parts within the game that were outside of our control, and had a fairly heavy impact on the final resultas it turned out,” Williamson said.
“When those sorts of things happen so late in the game it can make it very difficult to adjust and come back from. That iskind of the game of cricket.”
“Therefore they can be quite definitive … but what can you do?”
Would Kiwi skipper have let Warner chase record?
Australian captain Tim Paine got it right denying David Warner a crack at Brian Lara’s world-record 400 runs, according to New Zealand counterpart Kane Williamson.
The Aussies declared with Warner unbeaten on 335 and in complete control of Pakistan’s pop-gun Test attack last week, eventually thumping the tourists inside four days.
Paine was conscious of the dreary forecast and the early call gave his attack a six-over mini-session to bowl at Pakistan’s openers before the dinner break, which Williamson said was “a good cricketing decision”.
Williamson and Warner — teammates in the Indian Premier League since 2015 — have exchanged text messages recently as they prepare to face off in Perth on Thursday
“It’s a team sport. I think 335 (not-out) is not a bad effort,” Williamson said.
“He’s been smoking it everywhere, and I obviously know Davey fairly well. We’ve been sharing a few texts but he’s been going extremely well.
“But did they declare before the night session or something? I think that’s a smart decision, really.
“It’s a good cricketing decision and you’re not playing the game for guys to get 400 – that seems like a crazy thing to say.
“But if you score as fast as Davey then you’re probably more likely than most to achieve it.
“But you make the decisions based on the team and you want the best opportunities to take wickets and win and that’s what he did, which was the right decision.”
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Opinion was divided on whether Paine should’ve let Warner bat on and Lara, who was in the Adelaide Oval stands, wanted to witness Warner go for gold.
Mark Taylor and Brett Lee both claimed Warner could’ve been given the chance while even the diplomatic Mike Hussey said part of him wanted to see history made.