40 incidents documented
New Zealand vs Bangladesh
2022-01-08
Ross Taylor played his 100th Test for New Zealand in January 2022 — becoming the first New Zealander to achieve the milestone — before retiring as his country's highest run-scorer with 7,683 Test runs, ending a 16-year career that changed New Zealand batting.
New Zealand vs India
2021-06-23
New Zealand beat India by 8 wickets to win the inaugural ICC World Test Championship Final — Kane Williamson's 49 and Kyle Jamieson's 5/31 defeating the highest-ranked Test team in the world, giving cricket's longest format its first global champion.
England vs New Zealand
14 July 2019
Umpire Kumar Dharmasena awarded six runs on an overthrow that deflected off Ben Stokes' bat, when the correct call should have been five. The decision may have changed the outcome of the World Cup final.
India vs New Zealand
10 July 2019
MS Dhoni's run out by Martin Guptill's direct hit in the World Cup semi-final was upheld by the third umpire after a close review that many felt could have gone either way.
New Zealand vs India
9-10 July 2019
The rain-delayed 2019 World Cup semi-final produced multiple DRS controversies, with several New Zealand batsmen surviving LBW decisions on umpire's call. India felt numerous decisions went against them. New Zealand won by 18 runs.
New Zealand vs India
9 July 2019
In the rain-interrupted 2019 Cricket World Cup semi-final, India's bowlers were denied multiple LBW reversals due to umpire's call — ball-tracking showed balls clipping the edge of the stumps but less than 50% contact, leaving the on-field not-out decisions standing. Kane Williamson survived at least two such decisions and New Zealand won by 18 runs, reigniting the debate about the umpire's call threshold.
New Zealand vs England
2019-11-28
Neil Wagner's relentless bouncer strategy against Joe Root during New Zealand's 2019 Test series — bowling exclusively short deliveries at Root's body from around the wicket — exposed how even the world's best Test batsman could be rattled by intelligently sustained short-pitched bowling.
England vs New Zealand
2019-07-14
Trent Boult took a seemingly match-winning catch but stepped on the boundary rope, gifting England a crucial six in the World Cup Final.
England vs New Zealand
2019-07-14
The 2019 World Cup Final featured a freak overthrow off Ben Stokes' bat that went for six runs, sparking endless debate and proving that cricket's greatest moments are often its most absurd.
England vs New Zealand
14 July 2019
England won the 2019 World Cup Final on a boundary count tiebreaker after both the match and Super Over were tied, amid controversy over a crucial overthrow that awarded England six runs instead of five.
England vs New Zealand
2019-07-14
The most extraordinary finish in World Cup history — the final tied, the Super Over tied, and England were declared World Champions on boundary count. New Zealand were devastated. The boundary countback rule was subsequently abolished.
England vs New Zealand
2019-07-14
Ben Stokes dived for his crease as Martin Guptill's throw deflected off his outstretched bat to the boundary — the umpires awarded 6 runs (4 for the boundary + 2 being run), though replays suggested only 5 should have been given. The 'extra' run may have changed the World Cup result.
India vs New Zealand
2017-10-25
MS Dhoni was caught on stump mic directing Kuldeep Yadav ball-by-ball, essentially captaining from behind the stumps and predicting exactly what the batsman would do.
Pakistan vs New Zealand
29 January 2016
Mohammad Amir's return to international cricket after serving a five-year spot-fixing ban divided the cricket world, with some praising rehabilitation and others arguing convicted fixers should never return.
Australia vs New Zealand
29 March 2015
Brad Haddin claimed a catch off a bottom edge in the 2015 World Cup Final that was reviewed and given out, with New Zealand questioning whether the ball had carried.
South Africa vs New Zealand
24 March 2015
AB de Villiers was given out run-out in the 2015 World Cup semi-final after replays were inconclusive. South Africa lost to New Zealand in an agonising finish. Grant Elliott hit the winning six off Dale Steyn to send New Zealand to their first World Cup final.
South Africa vs New Zealand
24 March 2015
AB de Villiers was given out run out by the third umpire on a genuinely inconclusive decision. South Africa lost in heartbreaking fashion — Dale Steyn conceding the winning six to Grant Elliott off the final ball.
New Zealand vs Various
2015-03-24
Brendon McCullum's wicketkeeping appeals were so enthusiastic and theatrical that they became entertainment in themselves, with McCullum often appealing louder than the bowler.
New Zealand vs South Africa
2015-03-24
Grant Elliott hit Dale Steyn for six to win the 2015 World Cup semi-final, ending South Africa's 'choking' curse in the most dramatic way possible before helping the devastated Steyn to his feet.
Australia vs New Zealand (first), Various
27 November 2015
The introduction of day-night Test cricket with a pink ball was hailed as an innovation to save Test cricket but faced resistance from players concerned about visibility, ball behavior, and safety under lights.
New Zealand vs South Africa
2015-03-24
New Zealand needed 12 off the last over to reach their first World Cup final. Grant Elliott — a South African-born New Zealander — hit Dale Steyn for six with 3 balls remaining, then two with the last ball to win by 4 wickets in one of cricket's most emotionally charged finishes.
New Zealand vs West Indies
2015-03-21
Martin Guptill made 237 not out against West Indies in the 2015 World Cup quarter-final — the highest individual score in World Cup history and in any knockout ODI match — as New Zealand won by 143 runs to reach their first World Cup semi-final in 23 years.
Australia vs New Zealand
2015-03-29
Australia beat New Zealand by 7 wickets in the 2015 World Cup Final at the MCG — captain Michael Clarke's farewell tournament — winning their fifth World Cup title and becoming the first team to win the tournament on home soil.
New Zealand vs India
2014-02-06
Trent Boult's left-arm swing against Virat Kohli during New Zealand's 2014 home series — using the angle into the right-hander combined with outswing away from the stumps — produced the blueprint for how swing bowling could repeatedly beat Kohli's outside-edge-happy driving game.
New Zealand vs India
2014-02-15
Brendon McCullum made 302 against India in Wellington — New Zealand's first ever Test triple century — batting with the same attacking freedom he brought to captaincy and T20 cricket, becoming the fastest player to reach 300 in Tests at the time.
New Zealand vs Various
2012-03-01
New Zealand's Chris Martin recorded the most ducks in Test history and a batting average of 2.36, making him the most entertainingly bad batsman in cricket history.
England vs New Zealand
June 2008
Kevin Pietersen's revolutionary switch hit raised questions about LBW law, wide calls, and field placement when a batsman changes from right to left-handed mid-delivery.
New Zealand / ICL
1 October 2008
New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum reported that teammate Chris Cairns had approached him about match fixing during the Indian Cricket League in 2008.
England vs New Zealand
2008-06-15
Kevin Pietersen stunned cricket by switching from right-handed to left-handed mid-delivery to smash Scott Styris for six, effectively inventing the 'switch hit.'
New Zealand vs Australia
13 February 2005
The first-ever T20 International featured debates about the width of the wide line in the shorter format, setting the stage for years of inconsistency in T20 umpiring.
New Zealand vs Sri Lanka
March 2005
Billy Bowden gave a controversial LBW decision that was criticized for being rushed, with the ball appearing to be missing the stumps by some margin.
New Zealand vs South Africa
2004-03-12
New Zealand opener Mark Richardson celebrated his Test centuries with a pre-planned robotic dance routine that became one of cricket's most endearing traditions.
New Zealand vs England
2002-03-15
Nathan Astle scored the fastest double century in Test history in just 153 balls, turning an impossible chase into cricket's most entertaining assault on bowling.
Pakistan vs New Zealand
8 May 2002
New Zealand abandoned their tour of Pakistan in 2002 after a bomb blast outside their hotel in Karachi killed 14 people, marking one of the earliest security-related disruptions to international cricket.
Pakistan vs New Zealand
2002-09-02
Inzamam-ul-Haq scored 329 for Pakistan against New Zealand in Lahore — Pakistan's highest individual Test score — in an innings of controlled authority that lasted 571 minutes and placed him among the great Test batsmen of his era.
New Zealand vs various
1992-02-22
Martin Crowe made 188 runs across New Zealand's 1992 World Cup campaign and 91 in their semi-final vs Pakistan — the tournament's leading scorer — alongside captaining a side that pioneered pinch-hitting and spin bowling tactics later adopted by the entire cricket world.
West Indies vs New Zealand
1986-02-21
Richard Hadlee's intelligent use of swing, seam, and variation against Viv Richards — who dominated every other bowler on earth — produced one of cricket's most compelling bowler-batsman contests: craft against raw genius.
Australia vs New Zealand
1 February 1981
Greg Chappell instructed his brother Trevor to bowl the last ball underarm along the ground to prevent New Zealand from hitting a six to tie the match.
Australia vs New Zealand
1981-02-01
Greg Chappell instructed his brother Trevor to bowl the last ball underarm along the ground to prevent New Zealand from hitting a six to tie, sparking outrage and eternal mockery.
New Zealand vs West Indies
12 February 1980
Michael Holding kicked the stumps out of the ground in frustration after an LBW appeal was turned down against John Parker.