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Asterisked cricketing victories

Ali TT

International Vice-Captain
"The other team made mistakes" is never a great counter when the team that won had a boatload of pure luck go in their favour imo. No one plays perfectly in big games. Teams get lucky sometimes it's fine to admit it, it's part of the sport.

Also, it's an asterisk, not a strike-through.
The only thing that makes that final an asterisk is the scoring of the overthrows as a 6 not a 5. That England won the tournament in a superover on boundary countback was all within the playing conditions of the game. It means the victory was by the tiniest of margins but it was still a victory. There are plenty of examples of other cricket matches that are tied or drawn which have tiebreakers or means of determining a winner.
 

GIMH

Norwood's on Fire
Focusing on the 6 instead of 5 is bonkers anyway. If you go through the two innings I imagine there are other one run inconsistencies in the calling of nbs/wides etc. it’s inevitable in a tight contest.
 

Molehill

Cricketer Of The Year
Back to the original point, a couple of Tests where Pakistan visited England possibly deserve an asterisk. That England won the 2006 series '3-0' is slightly odd when they were struggling in the Final test. Thanks Darryl!!

And then of course Stuart Broad's finest batting hour probably gets an asterisk against it too in 2010.
 

Molehill

Cricketer Of The Year
True and the Broad - Trott record stand
It's a tough one to weigh up. England were 100-7, so it wasn't like Pakistan weren't trying to take wickets, they were just throwing in the odd no ball to order. I'm trying to remember at what point the story broke in the match (I remember being on holiday in France at the time), because once it did, Pakistan folded like a pack of cards.
 

subshakerz

Hall of Fame Member
Also Pakistan losing the test to WI in Guiyana in 1988, when the series was on the line. WI were 8 down and somehow made it against Imran, Wasim and Qadir. The umpire I believe later admitted that he was worried about being attacked by the crowd if he umpired differently.
 

GIMH

Norwood's on Fire
It's a tough one to weigh up. England were 100-7, so it wasn't like Pakistan weren't trying to take wickets, they were just throwing in the odd no ball to order. I'm trying to remember at what point the story broke in the match (I remember being on holiday in France at the time), because once it did, Pakistan folded like a pack of cards.
It broke on the Saturday night. Think the game was pretty much done anyway but they collapsed in a heap on the Sunday.
 

Ali TT

International Vice-Captain
It's a tough one to weigh up. England were 100-7, so it wasn't like Pakistan weren't trying to take wickets, they were just throwing in the odd no ball to order. I'm trying to remember at what point the story broke in the match (I remember being on holiday in France at the time), because once it did, Pakistan folded like a pack of cards.
It broke on the Saturday night. Think the game was pretty much done anyway but they collapsed in a heap on the Sunday.
Weren't there rumours already before then? I think Sky had already picked out and analysed some of the no-balls during the lunch break on Friday but I might be retrofitting the timeline of events to the things I've read and seen in the years since.

Obviously as it was a NotW story the release would've been ahead of the Sunday papers, so Saturday evening as said.
 

GIMH

Norwood's on Fire
One of the no-balls did get highlighted but I’m not sure anything more sinister was mentioned at that point.
 

Ali TT

International Vice-Captain
One of the no-balls did get highlighted but I’m not sure anything more sinister was mentioned at that point.
Nothing was ever uncovered to suggest that there was any wider match-fixing of that game and you'd imagine it wouldn't been. My personal, unsubstantiated speculation was that within the Pakistani time it became clear quite quickly that something fishy was going on and their morale feel through the floor, leading to the remarkable turnaround.

Also, just occasionally number 9s do score remarkable centuries and perhaps that this one example happened in this particular game was just a coincidence.
 

ankitj

Hall of Fame Member
I just checked the records. They say there have been 5 tied matches in World Cups

Australia v South Africa 1999 semi

South Africa v Sri Lanka 2003
(DLS tie - SA needed a win but didn't understand DLS)

Ireland v Zimbabwe 2007

India v England 2011

NZ v England 2019 final

These are the official results.

It is a fact that England were awarded the trophy, but it also a fact that the match was tied.
Here is the full list of world cup final winners:

Screenshot_20230727-230224.png
 
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