New Zealand teach us how to be gracious in defeat

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If we were complaining about the format of the World Cup or it being too long or boring, the sport’s showpiece event gifted us the game of our lifetime at the Cathedral of Cricket on Sunday. The scenes at Lord’s for the last 40 minutes were barely believable as some of the finest athletes of our great game lived beyond our expectations. 

The adrenalin just kept flowing until England were declared World Champions by the strangest, weirdest and even most senseless margins. Lest we take those who put the tournament rules in place to task, let it be said that barely anyone would have expected it to come down this close. Mind you, all World Cup finals so far have been one-sided with the 1987 clash between England and Australia being the closest with Allan Border’s side winning by seven runs.

A lot of soul searching will be done after this final and many things will be changed. A fairer outcome for the final would have been to let the Super Overs continue until the deadlock was broken. Surely, someone is going to give it away at some point. In the football World Cup final, if the scores are leveled at full time, we have extra time and then a penalty shootout. First we get five players each and in the case of it still being a tie, we get three players and if the status quo remains, then the goalkeepers are pitched against each other.

Or once the game is tied and even the Super Over is tied, declare both teams joint champions. A result is a must in cases of quarter-finals and semi-finals as one team has to progress, but here it’s not so. 

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The overthrows will also be debated at length by the Cricket Committee comprising some of the finest brains of the sport and incidents such as these will help the game iron out shortcomings. It has always happened. 

New Zealand would beg to differ though. The simple reason is that they played so well and were extremely unlucky. Not just with the overthrows and boundaries incidents but all decisions going against them. Take the case of Ross Taylor for example. He was given out leg before wicket but New Zealand had no reviews left. Taylor was clearly not out and he would have gone onto add another vital ten or 15 runs at least, which would have come in handy for the Kiwis. 

First ball of England’s innings, Jason Roy was plumb in front as well but was given not out.  Not that the reprieve cost the Kiwis much but then further proof how cricketing gods were turning a blind eye towards New Zealand’s cause that day. 

Yet, there was never a trace of bitterness from the Kiwis. When Martin Guptill’s throw ricocheted off the bat of Ben Stokes to the boundary, any other team would have surrounded the umpires with a storm of protest. The Kiwis meanwhile gave into the fact that the umpires were the best interpreters of Laws of Cricket and let it stay there. 

We Sri Lankans wouldn’t have taken this lying down. Remember how much of hue and cry we made after that Adam Gilchrist’s stunning hundred in Barbados in the 2007 final.  We have got much to learn from the Kiwis. 

Not just the incident with the overthrow, Trent Boult appeared to have pulled off a stunner to dismiss Stokes, but he lost balance and stepped onto the advertising triangle. This was touch and go and it would have required several television angles to tell whether it was out or six. But the man who was closest to the action – Guptill spontaneously declared that it was six, helping England stay in the game.

The ICC has done away with Spirit of Cricket Award that used to be present at the end of each year along with other annual awards. If the award still existed, New Zealand would have won it unanimously. 

Our own umpire Kumar Dharmasena has also received flak for his role in the fiasco. It’s easy for people to say that he should have consulted the third umpire and all that, but this, like a wide or a no ball, is a judgmentcall and had to be made on the spur of the moment. Dharmasena did consult his on-field colleague though and South African Marais Erasmus was of the view that the run had been completed. 

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Most people would have an axe to grind but even Kane Williamson had no grumbles. Umpiring errors are part and parcel of the game and lest everyone forget, remember that West Indies wouldn’t have won the World T-20 in Calcutta in 2016 had Dharmasena not insisted on television umpire coming into the equation to determine the legitimacy of a catch. 

Let’s not move away from our main protagonist here though. Kane Williamson has turned out to be a sensational role model for all and sundry. The Kiwis may have lost the World Cup, but they have won the hearts of the people.