Boundary Count Rule Cricket: History and Why It Was Scrapped

The boundary count rule is one of the few cricket regulations remembered for a single match. The 2019 ODI World Cup final at Lord's ended with England and New Zealand level after 50 overs and again level after the Super Over. The trophy was awarded to England on boundary count - more boundaries hit during the regulation 50 overs and the Super Over combined. The ICC scrapped the rule within months. This piece walks through the history, the 2019 controversy that ended it, and how tied finals are now resolved.

The Hook: A Real Example

Lord's, 14 July 2019. England 241 all out. New Zealand 241 for 8. Tied. Super Over - 15 each. Tied again. The trophy goes to England on the count of boundaries: 26 (England) to 17 (New Zealand) across the regulation innings and the Super Over.

The on-ground reaction was respectful, as Kane Williamson's post-match presentation made clear. The cricketing world's reaction was less restrained. Within days, every former player and writer with a column had called for the rule's abolition.

What Was The Boundary Count Rule?

The boundary count rule was a tiebreaker for tied finals in ICC tournaments. If the regulation match ended tied, a Super Over (one over per side) was played. If the Super Over also ended tied, the team with more boundaries hit during the regulation match plus the Super Over was declared the winner.

The rule was applied across ICC ODI and T20 events for several years before the 2019 World Cup. It was a clean, deterministic tiebreaker - and, after the 2019 final, an unpopular one.

The reasoning at the time of adoption had been pragmatic: a tied final needed a winner, the rule rewarded more aggressive batting, and the alternative (multiple Super Overs) was thought to be operationally awkward.

The 2019 World Cup Final Controversy

The 2019 final's closing minutes had several layers of discontent. Beyond the boundary count itself, there were two separate flashpoints:

First, the overthrow that yielded six runs (four off the throw, two completed) when Ben Stokes was attempting a second run. Several critics argued the laws should have awarded only five - one short of the second run not yet complete - because the law on overthrows credits runs already completed before the throw.

Second, the boundary count itself. Critics argued the tiebreaker rewarded one type of cricket over another - aggression over consolidation - and that this was an arbitrary criterion to decide a World Cup.

The combined optics of the two flashpoints accelerated the rule's abolition.

For broader umpiring-and-rule evolution context, our soft signal abolished explainer covers the 2023 follow-up reform.

The ICC Reform: October 2019

The ICC's response was swift. In October 2019, the boundary count rule was scrapped. The new tiebreaker for tied finals: if the Super Over ends tied, additional Super Overs are played until one side wins.

This is now the standard mechanism across ICC events and most domestic competitions.

Tournament Stage	Pre-Oct 2019	Post-Oct 2019
League stage	No tiebreaker (tie/draw)	No tiebreaker (tie/draw)
Knockout	Boundary count	Repeated Super Overs
Final	Boundary count	Repeated Super Overs

In knockout matches in ICC events, the tied-after-Super-Over scenario now triggers a second Super Over, then a third, and so on until one side wins.

Has The New Rule Been Used?

Yes - the IPL has seen multiple double-Super-Over matches since the rule change. The 2020 IPL game between Punjab Kings and Mumbai Indians required a Super Over (and a second Super Over was used in some domestic matches). Several other domestic and franchise tournaments have used the repeated-Super-Over mechanic.

In ICC events, the 2024 T20 World Cup did not produce a tied final, but the rule remains in force.

Common Misconceptions

The most common is that the 2019 final result has been retroactively changed. It has not. England remain the 2019 ODI World Cup champions; the result stood under the rules at the time.

The second is that the boundary count was an ICC-only rule. Many domestic competitions used variants of the rule pre-2019; most have followed the ICC's repeated-Super-Over format.

The third is that league-stage tied games still use boundary count. They do not - league matches that end tied now typically remain tied (in points terms), with each team getting one point.

For tournament-level rule context, our Mankading rule explainer covers another contested law that has since been settled.

How The New Rule Works In Practice

The repeated Super Over mechanism:

1. Regulation match ends tied.
2. Super Over: one over per side, each side bats once.
3. If the Super Over ends tied, a second Super Over is played.
4. If the second Super Over ends tied, a third is played.
5. The process continues until one side has more runs in the deciding Super Over.

In practice, two Super Overs is usually the maximum - the cumulative odds of three tied Super Overs in succession are vanishingly small.

The Critic Vs Supporter Case

The case for boundary count was operational simplicity. The Super Over is a high-pressure scenario, and adding more Super Overs increases the operational and television-window burden.

The case against was the principle of the criterion. Tiebreakers in major tournaments should reward winning cricket, not a preferred style of cricket. Aggression has its rewards inside the regulation innings; using it as a separate tiebreaker double-counts the metric.

Six years on, the supporter case for the new rule has held. The cricketing community treats the boundary count rule as a closed chapter.

For broader IPL context, our IPL points table tracks the season. Fantasy followers can track related picks via our Dream11 hub.

FAQ

When was the boundary count rule abolished? October 2019, by the ICC, after the controversial 2019 World Cup final.

Was the 2019 World Cup final result reversed? No. England remain the 2019 World Cup champions; the result stood under the rules at the time.

What happens now if a Super Over is tied? A second Super Over is played, and the process continues until one side wins.

Does the rule still exist in any competitions? Almost no major tournaments still use it. The repeated-Super-Over format is the global standard.

Did the rule apply to league stage matches? Generally no - league-stage ties in white-ball cricket remain ties, with one point each.