England’s maiden Cricket World Cup victory has divided cricket fans and players over a controversial umpiring decision that had the nail-biting final being awarded to England on a boundary countback.
Chasing a target of 242 in the regular course of the play, England needed nine runs from three balls when English batsman Ben Stokes was completing a double and a throw from Martin Guptill deflected off Stokes’ bat and went to the boundary.
Umpires Kumar Dharmasena and Marais Erasmus awarded total six runs for the overthrow and the number of runs Stokes and his partner Adil Rashid ran between the wickets.
However, under rule 19.8 of the Marylebone Cricket Club, extra runs are only awarded if the batsmen have crossed when the ball is thrown.
Simon Taufel, a former ICC umpire and member of the MCC Laws sub-committee that is responsible for drafting cricket laws, has said the umpires’ decision to award six runs was wrong.
That means, in the remaining two balls of the 50th over, England would have needed four runs, instead of three and Ben Stokes wouldn’t have faced the next ball.
However, he said the umpires should not be blamed for making that call.
“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” Mr Taufel added.
“Obviously TV replays showed otherwise.”
New Zealand captain Kane Williamson, when asked about the controversial over-throw rule, deflected calls to change it.
"The rule has been there for a long time," he said. "I don't think anything like that's happened [before] where you now question it.
"There were so many other bits and pieces to that game that were so important."
The ICC, however, has refused to be drawn into the row saying it doesn’t comment on decisions of the umpires.
"The umpires take decisions on the field with their interpretation of the rules and we don't comment on any decisions as a matter of policy," a spokesperson told AAP.
