Super Over

A Super Over,^[1][2] also called an Eliminator^[3][4] or a one-over-per-side eliminator,^[5] is a tie-breaking method used in limited-overs cricket matches. The Super Over is a reduced version of the match that consists only of one over (six balls) and two wickets for each team. The official result of the match would be a "tie" but within the context of the tournament or series, the winning team of the "Super Over" is declared the winner of the match and the victory is seen as equivalent of one earned in a regular match. Runs scored in super overs do not count towards a player's statistical record. The Super Over was first used in 2008 in Twenty20 cricket, replacing the bowl-out method that was previously used for breaking a tie. The Super Over is primarily used in Twenty20 cricket.

Contrary to the tie-breaking methods used in other sports, the Super Over is often used in the group stage of Twenty20 tournaments. Journalist Sambit Bal described this use as being unnecessary for situations outside knockout stages. He sees a tie being a satisfactory result both to the teams and in entertainment value.^[6] Mike Hesson, the coach of the New Zealand national cricket team, also criticised the Super Over after his team lost two Super Overs in the Super Eight group stage of the 2012 ICC World Twenty20 and finished bottom of their group.^[7]

Rules

The International Cricket Council state the official rules for Super Overs in the Standard Twenty20 International Match Playing Conditions, in effect from 1 October 2012.^[8][9] A Super Over will determine the winner of matches ending with the scores tied according to the following rules:

• Weather permitting, the Super Over will commence 10 minutes after the main match.
• Each team bats one over under the same restrictions as for the final over in a normal match.
• The team batting second in the main match will bat first in the Super Over.
• In both innings, the fielding team chooses from which end to bowl.
• The loss of two wickets end's the team's innings.
• In the event of the scores being level in the Super Over, the first satisfied of the following criteria will determine the winner:
  1. If the regular match utilised the Duckworth–Lewis method, criterion 4 immediately applies.
  2. The team with the most number of boundaries combined from the main match and the Super Over is the winner.
  3. The team with the most number of boundaries from the main match (alone) is the winner.
  4. A count-back from the final ball of the Super Over shall be conducted. The team with the higher scoring delivery is the winner. If a team loses two wickets during its over, any unbowled deliveries are considered dot balls. Runs scored from illegal deliveries count towards the total for the following legal delivery.

Before 1 October 2010, Super Overs ending in a tie had the winner first decided by the number of boundary sixes the teams hit in both innings, then by the sixes hit in the main match.^[10] This rule was applied on 5 May 2010 in a 2010 ICC Women's World Twenty20 match between Australia and England, won by Australia by scoring more sixes in both innings.^[11][12]

Example

Chris Gayle scored 25 runs in the first Super Over

The first implementation of Super Overs was in the tied Twenty20 match between the West Indies and New Zealand on 26 December 2008. West Indies scored 25/1 in their super over and New Zealand replied with 15/2.^[13] This particular match was a trial of the Super Over concept, and the official result was a tie.^[2]

The 26 December 2008 Twenty20 match between New Zealand and the West Indies was tied after each sides' 20 overs.^[2]

- Daniel Vettori was the "nominated bowler" for New Zealand.

- Chris Gayle and Xavier Marshall opened the "mini-innings".

- Marshall was run out without facing a ball, and Shivnarine Chanderpaul similarly remained at the non-striker's end.

- Gayle hit 25 runs off the 6 balls he faced.

The Windies' "Super Over" score was 25 for 1 from six balls.^[14]

- Sulieman Benn was the nominated bowler for the West Indies.

- NZ opener Jacob Oram was caught on Benn's third "super over" delivery.

- Third man in Ross Taylor hit a six but was then clean bowled on the next ball. Oram's "super over" opening partner Brendon McCullum didn't face a delivery.

The Black Caps' Super Over score was 15 for 2 (all out) from five balls.^[14]

The West Indies thus won the Super Over.

Matches decided by Super Over

The Super Over was introduced into One Day International cricket at the 2011 Cricket World Cup knockout stage, where a game ending in a tie would have been decided via Super Over,^[15] but it was not used, as no 2011 knockout games were tied.

Twenty20 International

Date	Venue	Winner	Score	Loser	Score	T20I	Ref
26 December 2008	Eden Park, Auckland, New Zealand	West Indies	700125000000000000025/1	New Zealand	700115000000000000015 all out	1st	[14]
28 February 2010	AMI Stadium, Christchurch, New Zealand	New Zealand	70009000000000000009/0	Australia	70006000000000000006/1	2nd	[16]
7 September 2012	DSC Cricket Stadium, Dubai, UAE	Pakistan	700112000000000000012/0	Australia	700111000000000000011/1	2nd	[17]
27 September 2012	Pallekele International Cricket Stadium, Kandy, Sri Lanka	Sri Lanka	700113000000000000013/1	New Zealand	70007000000000000007/1	Match 13	[18]
1 October 2012	Pallekele International Cricket Stadium, Kandy, Sri Lanka	West Indies	700118000000000000018/0	New Zealand	700070000000000000017/0	Match 21	[19]

Domestic Twenty20

Date	Venue	Tournament	Winner	Score	Loser	Score	Scorecard	Ref
18 February 2009	Kingsmead, Durban	Standard Bank Pro20	Cape Cobras	70006000000000000006/1	Dolphins	70003000000000000003 all out	Semi-final	[20]
18 February 2009	St George's Park, Port Elizabeth	Standard Bank Pro20	Diamond Eagles	700116000000000000016/0	Warriors	70005000000000000005/1	Semi-final	[21]
23 April 2009	Newlands, Cape Town	Indian Premier League	Rajasthan Royals	700118000000000000018/0	Kolkata Knight Riders	700115000000000000015/1	Match 10	[22]
13 October 2009	Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi	Champions League Twenty20	Diamond Eagles	70009000000000000009/1	Sussex Sharks	50000000000000000000 all out	Match 11	[4][23]
26 January 2010	Colin Maiden Park, Auckland	HRV Cup	Otago Volts	700114000000000000014 all out	Auckland Aces	70008000000000000008/1	Match 28	[24]
21 March 2010	M. A. Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai	Indian Premier League	Kings XI Punjab	700110000000000000010/1	Chennai Super Kings	70009000000000000009 all out	Match 16	[25]
23 July 2010	Kensington Oval, Bridgetown	Caribbean Twenty20	Barbados	700116000000000000016/1	Combined Campuses and Colleges	700116000000000000016/0	Match 4	[26]
18 September 2010	St George's Park, Port Elizabeth	Champions League Twenty20	Victorian Bushrangers	700123000000000000023/0	Chennai Super Kings	700113000000000000013/0	Match 13	[27][28]
13 January 2011	Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, North Sound	Caribbean Twenty20	Hampshire Royals	70001000000000000001/1	Barbados	50000000000000000000 all out	Match 7	[29]
1 July 2011	Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad	Faysal Bank Super Eight T20 Cup	Rawalpindi Rams	700116000000000000016/0	Karachi Dolphins	70007000000000000007/1	Final	[30]
27 August 2011	Edgbaston, Birmingham	Friends Life t20	Leicestershire Foxes	700115000000000000015/0	Lancashire Lightning	700113000000000000013/0	Semi-final 1	[31]
27 August 2011	Edgbaston, Birmingham	Friends Life t20	Somerset	700116000000000000016/0	Hampshire Royals	70005000000000000005/1	Semi-final 2	[32]
28 September 2011	M. A. Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai	Champions League Twenty20	New South Wales Blues	700118000000000000018/0	Trinidad and Tobago	700115000000000000015/1	Match 8	[33]
7 December 2012	Lahore City Cricket Association Ground, Lahore	Faysal Bank T20 Cup	Abbottabad Falcons	70009000000000000009/1	Quetta Bears	70006000000000000006/1	Match 37
11 January 2013	Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain	Caribbean Twenty20	Jamaica	70004000000000000004/0	Leeward Islands	70001000000000000002 all out	Match 10	[34]
29 March 2013	Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore	Faysal Bank Super Eight T20 Cup	Rawalpindi Rams	700110000000000000010/1	Faisalabad Wolves	70009000000000000009/0	Match 11
7 April 2013	Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, Hyderabad	Indian Premier League	Sunrisers Hyderabad	700120000000000000020/0	Royal Challengers Bangalore	700115000000000000015/0	Match 7	[35]
16 April 2013	M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore	Indian Premier League	Royal Challengers Bangalore	700115000000000000015/0	Delhi Daredevils	700111000000000000011 all out	Match 21	[36]
20 July 2013	National Stadium, Karachi	Ramadan T20 Cup	Khan Research Laboratories	700115000000000000015/1	Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited	700117000000000000017/0	Match 18	[37]
25 July 2013	National Stadium, Karachi	Ramadan T20 Cup	Habib Bank Limited	700110000000000000010/0	Pakistan International Airlines	70007000000000000007 all out	Final	[38]
29 September 2013	Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur	Champions League Twenty20	Otago Volts	700113000000000000013/0	Highveld Lions	700113000000000000013 all out	Match 14	[39]
30 December 2013	Pukekura Park, New Zealand	HRV Twenty20	Auckland Aces	13/0	Central Stags	6 all out		[40]
10 January 2014	Sydney Cricket Ground, Australia	Big Bash League	Perth Scorchers	4/0	Sydney Sixes	1 all out	Match 20	[41]

Other Twenty20 matches

Date	Venue	Winner	Score	Loser	Score	Scorecard	Ref	Notes
1 June 2009	Lord's, London	Ireland	70006000000000000006/1	Netherlands	70002000000000000002 all out	Scorecard	[42][43]	2009 ICC World Twenty20 warm-up match
24 June 2012	Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain, Trinidad	India A	70007000000000000007/1	West Indies A	70004000000000000004 all out	Scorecard	[44]	2nd unofficial T20I

See also

• Tiebreaker
• Penalty shoot-out (association football)

References

External links

• List of tied Twenty20 matches on ESPN Cricinfo
• List of tied Twenty20 International matches on ESPN Cricinfo
• Standard Twenty20 International Match Playing Conditions from the International Cricket Council