Australia has been stripped of the 2024 ODI World Cup after a countback of moral victories determined that England were the real winners.
“Despite only winning three games and finishing below Afghanistan, clearly England were the best team in the comp. In every game, no matter what position they found themselves in, they managed to find a way to claim a moral victory, which is incredibly impressive” an ICC official said.
The ICC defended the system, saying it was the correct way to assess the winner. “It’s easy to get caught up in technicalities, like which team has scored the most runs. But what’s most important is shouting ‘spirit of the game’ and claiming that you’ve won, even when you’ve lost”.
Under the countback rule, the ICC tallied the number of times each team had claimed a moral victory and concluded that England was undefeated. “They’re an incredible team. They can lose by 229 runs on the scoreboard, but still manage to claim the moral victory. They’re invincible really”.
England player Ben Stokes said he was delighted to win another trophy, after beating Australia 5-0 in the recent Ashes series.
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Headline by Anthony Bell
