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LONDON - The irony of New Zealand's thrilling one-day international cricket victory over England wasn't lost on captain Daniel Vettori when the dust settled on its ugly aftermath.
When Kyle Mills and Mark Gillespie scrambled a second run from a Graeme Swann overthrow to snatch a one-wicket win off the last ball, the team felt justice had been done as they head to Lord's for Saturday's fifth match 2-1 up in the series.
"We probably should have been run out there as well. To see the ball travel past and come back easily for two, it was just a sense of relief. It's amazing how things happen," Vettori said.
"It was really tough to watch. I was almost just pleading for the tie, a little bit of glove or bat somewhere. It all worked out in the end, but it was tough viewing for everyone, really."
It is difficult to imagine the reaction if New Zealand had lost, still fuming about the Grant Elliott run-out which darkened the fourth ODI at The Oval after the tourists chased down 246 to win.
Vettori and vice-captain Brendon McCullum's balcony celebrations had an angry edge, directed more at opposing captain Paul Collingwood.
Collingwood was told he wasn't welcome in the dressing room when he immediately went to placate the New Zealanders.
But the situation was calmed after a captain-to-captain chat, a handshake and a mutual apology - Vettori for his team's post-match antics and Collingwood for "getting it wrong" in not calling back an injured Elliott after he'd collided with Ryan Sidebottom who was legitimately chasing the ball.
Former test wicketkeeper Ian Smith, commentating for Britain's Sky television, mentioned the controversy in the same breath as Australia's underarm delivery 27 years ago.
Collingwood also appeared stunned by the intensity of the questions from the English media.
"As a captain, at the time I'm thinking, what is the right or wrong thing to do here? Is it just a freak of cricket, a bad luck collision?
"Or in the spirt of the game do we say 'you're still in'. It's happened before and decisions have gone against us in the past," he said, citing Kevin Pietersen's run out after colliding with South Africa's Shaun Pollock at last year's Twenty20 World Cup.
Vettori felt the controversy could have been avoided if England adhered to the much-discussed, but murky, "spirit of cricket", and if the senior players had guided Collingwood after Pietersen broke the stumps with Elliott limping, before he fell to the ground in pain.
"That's when the senior players come into the mix and say 'we've got 30 or 40 seconds here, let's make a decision that means we all come out holding our heads up high'," Vettori said.
"I haven't seen anything really similar to it. Once opposition hands go on a batsman it's time to dead ball it, instantly."
A cynic could point to McCullum's run out of Sri Lankan Muttiah Muralitharan in 2006, when he left his crease to congratulate a teammate, as to how blurry the "spirit of cricket" line can be.
Elliott's incident aside, the luck was generally with New Zealand after topscorer Scott Styris was dropped on nought, 27 and 28 on the way to 69.
They did their best to botch the run chase too when Elliott ran out Styris calling for a second, and Jacob Oram hooked straight to deep square leg when in complete control on 38.
Relations had been generally good between the sides, in regular competition since February, but the Lord's finale now appears certain to have some bite.
"It's happened now, we'll go to Lord's confident but hopefully the teams will be in the right frame of mind," Vettori said.
- NZPA
