Big Bash implements multiple Super Overs for ‘tie-breakers’

MELBOURNE, Australia, Sept 24, (Agencies): The contentious boundary count-back tie-breaker that gave England victory over New Zealand in the Cricket World Cup final won’t be used in the Big Bash Twenty20 tournaments in Australia this season.

Cricket Australia on Tuesday said that under the new rules, if two teams are tied at the end of a final and then again after a Super Over, subsequent Super Overs will be played until there is a clear winner in both the men’s and women’s T20 leagues.

The new rule applies to all matches in the finals series, while a tied Super Over in a regular season game will see the points divided.

At Lord’s in July, New Zealand scored 241-8 and bowled out England for 241. Under World Cup final rules, the tied match went to a Super Over in which the best batsmen of one team try to score the most runs against a nominated bowler from the other.

Both teams scored 15 runs in Super Over but England won on a count-back of boundaries scored during the match. England won the World Cup title for the first time, but there were many critics of the tie-breaker formula.

International Cricket Council chief executive Geoff Allardice said earlier this year that its Cricket Committee, chaired by former India captain 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.

That could leave open the possibility that the boundary count-back rule could be changed ahead of the men’s T20 World Cup, to be played in Australia in October-November 2020.

Indian fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah has been ruled out of the home Test series against South Africa after suffering a stress fracture in his back and will be replaced by Umesh Yadav, the country’s cricket board (BCCI) said on Tuesday.

Bumrah, 25, was India’s leading bowler at the 50-over World Cup with 18 victims and he took 13 wickets in the recent two-Test series in West Indies at an exceptional average of 9.23.

“Jasprit Bumrah has sustained a minor stress fracture in his lower back and has been ruled out of the upcoming series for Gandhi-Mandela Trophy against South Africa,” the BCCI said in a statement.

 Bumrah’s spell of 5-7 in the first Test made him the first Asian bowler to complete five-wicket hauls in Australia, England, South Africa and West Indies – in only his 11th Test.

 Yadav, who has taken 119 wickets in 41 Tests, last played for India in December in Australia.

 Vishakhapatnam will host the first Test between India and South Africa from Oct 2 followed by matches at Pune and Ranchi. The series is the first for South Africa in the new ICC Test Championship.

India squad: Virat Kohli (captain), Mayank Agarwal, Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (vice-captain), Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant (wicketkeeper), Wriddhiman Saha (wicketkeeper), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Shubman Gill.