England benefited from a mistake from the officials during their thrilling Cricket World Cup run chase, according to the former international umpire Simon Taufel. The hosts lifted the trophy for the first time after beating New Zealand following a super over at Lord’s.
England matched New Zealand’s score of 241 from the final delivery, but earlier in the concluding over they were awarded six runs in bizarre circumstances. With nine needed from three deliveries, Ben Stokes and Adil Rashid pushed for a second run when a throw from the boundary deflected off Stokes’s outstretched bat and away to the boundary for four overthrows and six runs in total. But Taufel, who was named the ICC’s umpire of the year on five occasions, told foxsports.com.au: “They should have been awarded five runs, not six. It’s a clear mistake. It’s an error of judgment.
“In the heat of what was going on, [the umpires] thought there was a good chance the batsmen had crossed at the instant of the throw. Obviously TV replays showed otherwise.”
Law 19.8 of the MCC rulebook states: “If the boundary results from an overthrow or from the wilful act of a fielder, the runs scored shall be any runs for penalties awarded to either side and 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.”
Taufel told the Sydney Morning Herald: “Given that scenario, five runs should have been the correct allocation of runs, and Ben Stokes should have been at the non-striker’s end for the next delivery.”
Replays showed Stokes and Rashid had not crossed when the throw came in from Martin Guptill.
The ICC, meanwhile, are said to be satisfied with the conclusion of the final, which after both the match and the Super Over were tied went down to boundary countback, with England having struck 26 over the course of the day to New Zealand’s 17.
A spokesperson told the Guardian that this method of super over tie-breaker is well established across a number of domestic Twenty20 leagues and would only be reviewed in conjunction with them. There are currently no plans to do so.
