View attachment 295073
STATEMENT IN REGARDS TO NET RUN RATE AND TIEBREAKS
How'd we get here?
On October 19th, 2003 following the conclusion of the final game of the Swiss stage of the 2003 ASCON Asia Cup, a formal complaint was filed against the organizers by an anonymous party after ASCON had posted the final table from the Swiss Stage. The complaint was in regards to the Net Run Rate displayed on the final table, which the complainer believed to be incorrect and that ASCON was publishing misleading and false information. In order to address all issues following a lengthy review ASCON has elected to release this report in relation to both the Net Run Rate discrepancy as well as concerns relating to the Head to Head tiebreak and how it impacts teams.
NRR Swing
For the 2002 ASCON Asia Cup as well as the 2003 ASCON Asia Cup, Net Run Rate was calculated on a per game basis, meaning that each game's results were treated individually and not combined for each team as the tournament goes on. This began to be used in 2002 and was used for at-least two international event as well as two domestic tournaments within the People's Republic of China. How NRR in this fashion would be calculated is that after every game, a Net Run Rate calculator would be used to determine the amount of NRR a team would gain or lose depending on how many runs they scored in the game along with how many overs they faced which would then be compared to both runs allowed and overs bowled in a formula to determine the final output. These outputs were only for that game in particular and so it usually led to large amounts of flocculation in the output generation. An example can be found below:
Game 1: 0.43, Game 2: 2.10, Game 3: -0.87, Game 4: 0.22
0.43 + 2.10 - 0.87 + 0.22 = 1.88
This method will henceforth be referred to as the Swing method, as the Net Run Rate that a team can gain or lose is entirely determined on individual game performance and was for both the 2002 and 2003 Asia Cups how NRR was calculated.
What's the problem?
There were two issues discovered after the complaint was filed, the first being that the calculations for teams that were bowled out in their innings weren't properly calculated, thusly reducing the impact that blowouts had in the tournament and therefore drastically impacting the table. The second and bigger issue is that ASCON was working on the assumption that the Swing method was the correct way used by other WCC recognized tournaments for determining Net Run Rate, however this was in reality incorrect and in reality NRR was calculated in an entirely different method which relied on combining a teams performance over the course of an entire tournament. Due to the fact that ASCON had stated that its NRR tiebreak was to follow WCC laws it does mean that the Swing method cannot be used to determine Net Run Rate and as a result this is considered to be a failure of ASCON administration for not noticing the issue before it was correctly pointed out. ASCON would like to formally apologize to all teams who had participated in ASCON events over the past two years for this massive mistake made by ASCON and we hope you can stick with us.
Actual NRR Totals
The following table contains Net Run Rate totals under both Swing and Nominal:
| Team | NRR (Swing) | NRR (Nominal) |
| Bangladesh | -3.630 | -0.912 |
| China | -0.460 | -0.415 |
| India | +9.540 | +2.968 |
| Kazakhstan | -0.550 | -0.332 |
| Nepal | -6.470 | -2.030 |
| Pakistan | +3.030 | +0.723 |
| Palestine | -1.090 | -0.332 |
| Qatar | +2.680 | +1.087 |
| Saudi Arabia | -0.600 | +0.150 |
| Sri Lanka | -2.300 | -0.664 |
As a result of this, the Standings will have to be updated to reflect the actual NRR totals, however this opens up a new issue, the fact that Saudi Arabia has a legitimate reason to still be in the tournament... however we need to discuss how the Head to Head tiebreak shall work.
Head to Head situation
Along with the initial complaint filled, said anonymous complainer has also pointed out that the Head to Head method ASCON has been using may not be optimal or correct to be used, however the board and administration have been split on the issue as to whether or not Saudi Arabia should jump China and Pakistan. Initially it was assumed that Saudi Arabia, having no good Head to Head comparison to be drawn up against compared to all four nations it is tied to would be compared on NRR first to China, who is at the head of a H2H chain and if they have a better NRR then China they would jump them and make the knockouts. This however has been challenged by the notion that since Saudi Arabia still lost to Kazakhstan, and considering both Bangladesh and Kazakhstan lost to Pakistan and China respectively, Saudi Arabia shouldn't be allowed to jump China in the first place, arguing that Saudi Arabia had a relative H2H result through both Bangladesh and Kazakhstan. This is only possible due to a H2H chain which was formed when Kazakhstan lost to Bangladesh, which formed a three nation chain including both mentioned nations and Saudi Arabia. With these two options for H2H, and ASCON's insistence that H2H be prioritized, the board as elected to a decision on October 20th in order to ensure the smooth process of the tournament.
What's gonna happen.
ASCON has elected to go with the relative interpretation of Head to Head, AKA China and Pakistan will make the playoffs as the #3 and #4 seeds respectively and Saudi Arabia will not make the knockouts due to having a relative H2H result through Bangladesh and Kazakhstan. This also establishes a permanent precedent for future ASCON events that will use Head to Head as a tiebreaker in which if a team doesn't have a H2H result that can be compared to teams higher up, if a H2H circle was formed with that team, then that entire circle's losses will be compared to create a relative position all teams involved will slot into, thusly reinforcing ASCON's preference for H2H. While this may be harsh on Saudi Arabia, the board has elected that this is the simplest method forward while also being the most cost effective, preventing the board from having to issues thousands in refunds due to China and Pakistan having their games changed or in Pakistan's case, being knocked out.
Notes for future events.
ASCON has effective immediately clarified that all Net Run Rate numbers displayed will be of nominal NRR and not swing NRR, thusly bringing ASCON back in line with every other WCC-affiliated event. As well ASCON will host a general meeting on whether Head to Head will continue to be used for One Day International tournaments that don't use a group format, something that is likely to become the standard in future ASCON events.
Conclusion
ASCON would like to formally apologize to all member nations for the confusion brought about by this controversy caused by ASCON's own vagueness. Going forward the board will attempt to ensure no further mistakes are made and that events are ran much more smoothly. We also hope this post clarifies ASCON's tiebreak rules and that ASCON will work to make sure all further tiebreaks will have clear and concise wording to ensure there is no debates in the future.
@A.P Haux @isFEISARfair @Pinch hitter @HydroMuon @Disharies @Viper. @CerealKiller @mohsin7827 @Lazerknighta @parth00
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