The finals at Lord’s between England and New Zealand went on in a hectic way and eventually that one boundary count made a drastic change in the match which has decided the winner of the 2019 World Cup.
Former international umpire and member of the committee that prides over cricket’s complex rulebook Simon Taufel has stated that awarding England six runs by virtue of overthrow in the last over is clearly a mistake.
England needed nine runs for three balls when Martin Guptill threw to the striker’s end in an attempt to run the batsmen out. The ball accidentally hit the Ben Stokes bat when he was completing his second run and which went for a four. In total, England was awarded six runs which headed the match to a different level.
According to law 19.8 pertaining to Overthrow or wilful act of fielder which reads: If the boundary results from an overthrow or from the willful act of a fielder, the runs scored shall be any runs for penalties awarded to either side, the allowance for the boundary and the runs completed by the batsmen, together with the run in progress if they had already crossed at the instant of the throw or act.
Ben Stokes and Adil Rashid hasn’t crossed each other for the second run when Martin Guptill threw the ball and second run should not be considered as it was not completed by them. Looking into, either way, Stokes shouldn’t have made a strike when the second run was yet to be completed.
“It’s a clear mistake … it’s an error of judgment. They (England) should have been awarded five runs, not six. In the heat of what was going on, they thought there was a good chance the batsmen had crossed at the instant of the throw. Obviously, TV replays showed otherwise,” – Martin Guptill said.
Throughout the World Cup, umpiring standards were questioned and ICC should seriously look into this issue of making a huge error by the two umpires in the World Cup finals.
