Two retired outs and a tie: drama in New Zealand's Super Smash

In an unprecedented tactical move, Northern Districts retired out two of their batters, who were batting slowly, in successive overs and regained lost ground through more aggressive batters to snatch a tie against the Volts in Mount Maunganui. It marked the first instance of two batters being retired out in an innings in the history of men's T20 cricket.

In the 2022 Vitality Blast in England, two batters had retired out but not in the same innings. Carlos Brathwaite and Samit Patel retired out in different innings, in an eight-over shootout.

UAE women recorded first instance of a team retiring out two - or more - batters in T20 cricket, in May 2025. UAE had retired out all ten batters in that game to give their bowlers enough time to wrap up Qatar women before the impending rain in Bangkok.

Former New Zealand international Jeet Raval and rookie Xavier Bell were retired out on Sunday after they had struggled to get Volts' bowlers away. Raval was the first to go back to the dressing room at the start of the 17th over after managing 23 off 28 balls. Bell followed suit in the next over after labouring to 9 off 13 balls. Ben Pomare and Scott Kuggeleijn, the batters who replaced the pair, dispatched their first balls for sixes.

After Raval left the field, Pomare hoicked seamer Danru Ferns for six over midwicket to kickstart ND's riposte. He hit 20 off 10 balls before Kuggeleijn cranked up the tempo even further at the death. It eventually came down to ND needing 19 off the final over, bowled by Ferns.

He started with a beamer, which Tim Pringle tugged away into the leg side for a single. Kuggeleijn then flexed his muscles, picking off three fours off the next five balls, leaving ND requiring three off the last ball. Ferns nailed a yorker on the stumps from round the wicket and kept Kuggeleijn to just a double. Kuggeleijn finished with an unbeaten 34 off 12 balls at a strike rate of 283.33.

"I think it's probably just happening on the fly," Volts' Max Chu told the host broadcaster when asked about ND tactically retiring out two of their batters. "You always feel a little bit bad because they're not trying to slow the game down. I actually thought it was probably credit to our spinners. I thought Ben [Lockrose] bowled beautifully, Troy [Johnson] on debut bowled beautifully. And yeah, through that middle phase I think we really made the game hard for ND."

Retiring out was rare back in the day, but has become a more common modern T20 strategy where wickets are devalued and quick runs are prioritised. High-profile players like R Ashwin retiring themselves out in a high-profile league like the IPL has helped to destigmatise the move.

In modern T20 cricket, wickets have been devalued to an extent that Nicholas Pooran recently decided not to stump a sluggish Max Holden in an ILT20 fixture though the batter was out of his crease. One (dot) ball later, Vipers retired Holden out for 42 off 37 balls, bringing in Shimron Hetmyer, who ended up providing the final flourish to their innings with 15 off nine balls.

Like Vipers, ND benefitted from the tactical move on Sunday and did it twice. As a result of the tie, ND and Volts split points. Only the knockouts - Elimination final or the final - will have a Super Over to determine a winner in the Super Smash.