In a fresh revelation, it has emerged that England’s World Cup hero Ben Stokes had approached the umpires to take back the four additional runs conceded by New Zealand as a result of an overthrow in the World Cup final last Sunday. This extra four runs proved costly to the Kiwis bringing down the required runs for England from 9 in three balls to 3 runs in two balls. The match was eventually tied at 241 forcing the World Cup final to go into a ‘Super Over’. England were later crowned Champions.
Now former England pacer James Anderson has revealed that Stokes was so apologetic for the four extra runs being added to the English total that he went to the umpires and requested them to be taken back.
Taking part in a special BBC programme, Anderson revealed., “Basically, the etiquette in cricket is if the ball is thrown at the stumps and it hits you and goes into a gap in the field you don’t run. But if it goes to the boundary, in the rules it’s four and you can’t do anything about it. I think, talking to Michael Vaughan who saw him after the game, Ben Stokes actually went to the umpires and said, ‘Can you take that four runs off. We don’t want it.’ But it’s in the rules and that’s the way it is.”
The panel taking part in the BBC programme also hoped the rule on overthrow was changed by the ICC. Anderson also revealed that Stuart Broad was jumping like a kid when England won the World Cup.
England needed 9 runs off the last three deliveries when Ben Stokes attempted to steal two runs. While diving to complete his second run, a throw from Guptill had hit his bat and deflected to the boundary. The umpire had signaled six runs, bringing the target for England down to 3 runs off the last two balls. Stokes had immediately raised his hands apologising for the overthrow.
Taufel, a five-time winner of the ICC’s best umpires of the year, had told Fox Sports Australia that umpires had made a ‘clear mistake,’ as the batsmen had not crossed for their second run. “They should have been awarded five runs, not six,” Taufel said adding that England’s Adil Rashid should have faced the second-last ball instead of Stokes as a result.
New Zealand captain Kane Williamson too reacted admitting that he was not aware of the ICC rule.
“I actually wasn’t aware of the finer rule at that point in time, obviously you trust in the umpires and what they do. I guess you throw that in the mix of a few hundred other things that may have been different,” New Zealand Herald website quoted Williamson as saying.