FORMER England and Essex all-rounder Derek Pringle admits he was unaware of the super over rules which allowed England to beat New Zealand in the Cricket World Cup final.

After both sides scored 241 runs in their 50 overs at Lord’s, the nations also tied with 15 in the super over.

England were crowned world champions by virtue of scoring more boundaries and Pringle - who played in England’s previous final appearance back in 1992 - says he was expecting New Zealand to triumph after the 50 overs were completed.

Pringle said: “I must confess that I didn’t know that England would win on boundaries scored until someone else in the Lord’s press box said that was the ruling.

“I have seen and been involved in games before where the scores have been tied but the team with the fewest wickets lost has won.

“In all honesty, I don’t know why they went away from that format but it’s good that they did from an England point of view.

“It added that extra bit of excitement for the punters and it showed how cricket can be settled on incredibly fine margins.”

Pringle was a key member of the last England side to reach a World Cup final but his bowling figures of 3-22 were not enough to overcome Pakistan in Melbourne.

And Pringle, who featured for Essex between 1978 and 1993, was pleased to see Eoin Morgan’s side end England’s streak of being defeated on the big stage.

Pringle added: “It was a long time ago when I played in the last World Cup final involving England. It was in 1992 and there was a huge crowd of 90,000 at the MCG. I am really glad for the England team that they were able to finally win the World Cup.

“We had been to three finals and lost them all before Sunday, but we went one better this time and it was great. With all of our history in the game, it was about time that we got a World Cup trophy.”