England won 2019 Cricket World Cup via rule that won't be used this year
The controversial boundary countback rule which saw England win the World Cup in 2019 has been scrapped ahead of this year's tournament.
England beat New Zealand to lift the trophy at Lord's four years ago in one of the greatest games ever played, despite both the final and resulting super over ending in a tie. Eoin Morgan's side were crowned champions by virtue of scoring 26 boundaries to New Zealand's 17.
Both Kane Williamson and Gary Stead, New Zealand's captain and coach, were critical of the rule at the time. "It's a very, very hollow feeling that you can play 100 overs and score the same amount of runs and still lose the game," Stead said.
Williamson, meanwhile, said: "While the emotions are raw, it is pretty hard to swallow when two teams have worked really, really hard to get to this moment in time and when two attempts to separate them [are unsuccessful]. It is what it is, really. It's very tough to swallow."
The rule was ditched by the ICC just three months later and, should a similar scenario occur this year, an unlimited number of super overs will be played until a winner can be determined "unless exceptional circumstances or weather intervenes". In fact, every World Cup game will be decided by a super over if it ends in a tie.
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Teams will get two points for each win in the group stage, one point for a no result and zero for a defeat. All ten teams will face each other once, with the top four sides then qualifying for the semi-finals which will be played on November 15 and 16.
The winners of those two games will then face off in the final at the Narendra Modi Stadium on November 19. There are also reserve days for all three knockout games should the weather intervene.
England captain Jos Buttler is feeling confident (Alex Davidson - ECB/ECB via Getty Images)England captain Jos Buttler is feeling confident ahead of the tournament, but name checked hosts India as the favourites. "The clear favourites are India. You only have to look at the past few World Cups – England won in England, Australia won in Australia and India won in India before that," he said.
"History tells you that it's quite advantageous to be the home nation and they're obviously a brilliant team. In their own conditions, India are fantastic. I certainly see them as favourites.
"We're going out there to try to win a World Cup – we don't see ourselves as defending champions. It's very much a new tournament and we know it's going to be tough because there are some top, top teams. But we know we're a really good team, a dangerous team, we've got a lot of experience in the group and we back ourselves."
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