Super Over in Cricket: Rules, History, and the 2019 World Cup Final
The Super Over is cricket's tie-breaking mechanism in limited-overs matches — when the scores are level at the end of a match, each team faces one over of 6 balls (with 2 wickets in hand), and the team scoring more wins. The 2019 Cricket World Cup final between England and New Zealand was decided by a Super Over — and then further decided by boundary count when the Super Over itself was tied, the most dramatic finish in World Cup history.
What is a Super Over: a Super Over is a 6-ball tiebreaker in limited-overs cricket (T20 and ODI) when the regulation match ends in a tie (both teams have scored the same number of runs). Each team nominates 2 batsmen and 1 bowler for the Super Over. The team batting second in the main match bats first in the Super Over. After 6 balls (or 2 wickets), the bowling team has their turn. The team scoring more runs in their Super Over wins the match. If both Super Overs are also tied (as happened in the 2019 World Cup final), competition rules specify the next tiebreaker — in 2019, it was boundary count (number of fours and sixes in the match + Super Over).
2019 World Cup Final
The 2019 Cricket World Cup final — the most dramatic match ever: the final between England and New Zealand at Lord's on July 14, 2019 ended in a tie after 50 overs each (both teams scored 241 runs). A Super Over was played: New Zealand batted first, scoring 15 from their Super Over (Martin Guptill and James Neesham batting). England needed 16 to win — they scored 15 (Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler batting). The Super Over was also tied at 15-15. Under the tournament rules, the tiebreaker was boundary count across the entire match including the Super Over. England had scored 26 boundaries; New Zealand had scored 17. England were declared World Cup winners on boundary count — without defeating New Zealand in conventional cricket terms at any point in the Super Over resolution. New Zealand's Martin Guptill was run out off the final ball of the match attempting the winning run (which would have won New Zealand the World Cup): the throw hit Stokes' bat on the way to the wicketkeeper and deflected for 4 overthrows, giving England 6 runs off what would otherwise have been 2.
Super Over in T20
Super Over in T20 cricket: the Super Over is most common in T20 cricket, where the shorter format and high scoring rates mean tied results are more frequent than in ODIs. IPL Super Overs: the IPL has produced multiple Super Overs across its history — the most famous was the 2019 IPL Eliminator between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Mumbai Indians, which went to a Super Over (Mumbai Indians won). T20 World Cup Super Overs: the format has been used in ICC T20 World Cups and regional T20 competitions. The bowler choice in Super Over: teams typically nominate their most accurate death bowler to bowl the opposition's Super Over and their two best power hitters to bat. MS Dhoni was repeatedly India's nominated Super Over batsman due to his exceptional ability to score 15-20 runs from 6 balls under extreme pressure — but India played relatively few Super Overs during his era.
Multiple Super Overs
What happens if multiple Super Overs are tied: the rules for what happens if a Super Over is itself tied have varied across competitions. In 2019, the ICC rules used boundary count. In T20Is from 2019 onward, the ICC changed the rules to mandate another Super Over (indefinitely, until one Super Over produces an unambiguous winner) rather than using boundary count — this was specifically in response to the perceived unfairness of the 2019 World Cup final resolution. However, the 2019 final boundary count rule was used for ODIs in 2019 because the rules had not yet been updated. The 2021 update: from 2019 international T20s, Super Over ties produce another Super Over (Bowl-Out was used in some older ICC competitions — each team's batsmen bowl one ball at an unguarded set of stumps and the team scoring the most direct hits wins). The Super Over replacement of the earlier Bowl-Out represents the ICC's preference for batting resolution over bowling resolution as a tiebreaker.
Frequently asked questions
How does a Super Over work in cricket?
A Super Over in cricket works as follows: it is triggered when a limited-overs match (T20 or ODI) ends in a tie — both teams having scored equal runs. Each team nominates 2 batsmen and 1 bowler for the Super Over. The team that batted second in the main match bats first in the Super Over. The batting team faces 6 balls with 2 wickets in hand — if they lose 2 wickets before the 6 balls are completed, the remaining balls are not bowled. The bowling team then bats their 6 balls with the same conditions. The team scoring more runs in their respective Super Over overs wins the match. If the Super Over is also tied: ICC T20I rules from 2019 onward mandate another Super Over until an unambiguous winner is produced. Boundary count (total fours and sixes) was used as a second tiebreaker in the 2019 World Cup final — where England beat New Zealand on boundaries after both the main match and the Super Over were tied.
Who batted in England's Super Over in the 2019 World Cup final?
In the 2019 Cricket World Cup final Super Over at Lord's: England's nominated batsmen were Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler. Stokes scored 8 runs (including a crucial boundary) and Buttler scored 7 runs; England needed 16 to win from 6 balls but scored 15 — tying the Super Over. England's bowler for the Super Over (bowling New Zealand's 6 balls): Jofra Archer, who had taken 3 wickets in the main match. Archer bowled a tight Super Over — New Zealand scored 15 (Martin Guptill and James Neesham batting). New Zealand's bowler for England's Super Over was Trent Boult. England's 15 tied New Zealand's 15 — resulting in the boundary count tiebreaker where England won 26-17. For New Zealand: Neesham's smash for 6 off Archer (his famous 'come on then' celebration) and Guptill's devastating run-out off the final ball of the Super Over (run-out attempting what would have been the Super Over-winning run for New Zealand) were the defining moments.
Has a Super Over been used in a Test match?
No, the Super Over is not used in Test cricket. Test matches have only four possible outcomes: a win (one team bowled out or failing to reach the target), a draw (if the 5 days' play concludes without either team achieving an outright result — even if one team is well ahead on runs), a tie (both teams score equal runs in completed innings — this has happened only twice in Test cricket history), or a no result (abandonment due to rain or other causes). Test cricket does not have a tiebreaker mechanism: if a Test match ends in a draw, it remains a draw; if it ends in a tie (both teams' final innings totals are equal), it is recorded as a Test tie. The Super Over is a concept specific to limited-overs cricket (T20 and ODI), where the compressed format allows a 6-ball tiebreaker to be completed in 15-20 minutes. In Test cricket, the result after 5 days of play stands regardless of the margin or equivalence — the long format is considered complete in itself.