New Zealand’s saga with super-overs have a knack to end rather in a heartbreaking manner. The BlackCaps have featured in four super-overs in recent times losing on all occasions. The heartbreaking 2019 World Cup final loss, followed by three in T20I series at home against England and India, with two of those losses in just three days. It is hard to imagine the state of Kane Williamson who led the Kiwis on all four occasions.
Let us revisit these occasions which were not so favourable for New Zealand.
England vs New Zealand – 2019 World Cup Final (July 14, 2019)
It took them 44 years, but England finally did it. Neither a tied game nor a spirited New Zealand could stop England from bringing the trophy home at the Lord’s. It finally took a Super Over for England to be crowned winners of the 2019 World Cup.
To determine who will lift the trophy, for the first time in a World Cup a Super over was played and guess what scores there ended up the same as well. Fifteen after six balls to each team.
However, the hosts clinched the encounter due to a tie-break rule because they hit the most boundaries. In the 50-over contest, England hit 24 boundaries while New Zealand had 16. And, in the Super Over, the home team blasted two fours, and Jimmy Neesham scored a six off Jofra Archer’s bowling. It was due to these fine margins that England became the newest World Champions.
It was the cruelest way for New Zealand’s giant-killing run through the tournament to end. When it came to the last of the 50 overs, and England still needing 15 runs with only two wickets left, fans were growing confident of a New Zealand win.
Also Read: World Cup 2019 Final: How did England win despite scores were tied after Super Over?
New Zealand vs England T20I (November 10, 2019)
England beat New Zealand in a thrilling Super Over finish in Auckland to their rain-reduced Twenty20 cricket international, clinching a 3-2 win in the five-match series.
The teams were tied when England replied with 146-7 to New Zealand’s 146-5 in a match shortened by heavy rain to 11 overs per side.
This time England’s performance in the tiebreaker was decisive.
Bairstow and Morgan both hit sixes to set New Zealand a chase for 18 runs, a total which was challenging even on the postage stamp boundaries of Eden Park.
New Zealand made the unusual decision to nominate wicketkeeper Tim Seifert to take the first ball of its Super Over, bowled by Chris Jordan. Seifert took two, left a wide, hit four and had a dot ball before falling to a brilliant catch by Morgan.
With New Zealand needing 10 runs from the last two balls Guptill could only manage a single from the first ball he faced and the match was over.
After facing defeat in the super over in the final T20I of the five-match series against England on Sunday, New Zealand all-rounder Jimmy Neesham was seen asking the almighty if the script of England-New Zealand matches could be changed.
Neesham posted a picture of Kiwi team on Instagram in which the all-rounder can be seen looking at the almighty and captioned the post as: “Hey you up there, any chance you could change the script?”
Also Read: England wins 3-2 against New Zealand with a super-over thriller
New Zealand vs India 3rd T20I (January 29, 2020)
This time it was India who handed the Kiwis yet another heartbreaking defeat in a thrilling super over in the third T20I of the series at Seddon Park, Hamilton.
In the super-over, New Zealand came to bat first and posted a target of 18 runs for India. Virat Kohli led side scored three runs on the first two balls. With 14 runs required from 3 balls, Rohit Sharma smashed two sixes on the last two balls propelling India to a victory.
Known for hilarious activities on his Twitter account, New Zealand pacer Jimmy Neesham once again found himself in the thick of things. This time Neesham’s emotions were evident during India’s super-over win against New Zealand.
As soon as it was confirmed that a super over will take place, Jimmy Neesham tweeted a GIF of popular Hollywood actor Jim Carrey frustratingly spitting out water and exclaims, “Oh, come on”. He later deleted his post.
What made this encounter even more frustrating is that New Zealand had not won any of their last two super-over matches before and the outcome stayed the same against India as well.
New Zealand vs India 4rd T20I (January 31, 2020)
New Zealand choked yet again as India defeated the hosts in a second successive Super Over in the fourth T20I of the five-match series at the Westpac Stadium.
In the Super Over, New Zealand managed to score 13/1 and India chased down the total easily as KL Rahul and Virat Kohli achieved the score in just five balls.
This time, even the commentators were in disbelief as the Kiwis saga with Super-overs continued.
Yep. Like you expected anything else pic.twitter.com/WguUXPOuRO
— ICC (@ICC) January 31, 2020
New Zealand will face India in their fifth and final T20 of the series on Sunday, February 2. Will the script change for the BlackCaps? Or the Kiwis will again find themselves in yet another Super-Over? Only time will tell.
After the T20 series, India will take on the Kiwis in a three-match ODI series followed by two test matches.