After the heart-stopping World Cup 2019 final between England and New Zealand at Lord’s on July 14, former ICC elite panel umpire Simon Taufel said that that there was a “clear mistake” which helped the hosts to clinch their win maiden World Cup title.
Taufel revealed a huge error was made in awarding England six runs instead of five when a throw struck Ben Stokes’ bat in the final over.
With England needing 9 runs from the last three balls, Kiwi opener Martin Guptill threw the ball from deep square leg which accidentally hit the outstretched bat of a diving Stokes and went to the boundary. In total, the England team was awarded six runs – four for the resulting boundary and two for the batsmen’s running between the wickets.
However, Taufel claims the umpires made ‘an error of judgment’ in applying an unclear clause in the MCC’s laws.
“They (England) should have been awarded five runs, not six. It’s a clear mistake … it’s an error of judgment,” Taufel told foxsports.com.au.
The relevant clause from 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.
Provided the fact that batsmen had not crossed for their second run at the instant Guptill threw the ball, that run should not have counted.
“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,” Taufel added.
“Obviously TV replays showed otherwise.”
If the umpires had applied the clause properly, England would have needed four runs from the last two balls instead of three.
Moreover, Taufel also confirmed that as per the rules of the game batsmen should have swapped sides for the next delivery as they didn’t cross at the time of the throw. That would have meant that spinner Adil Rashid and not Stokes should have faced the penultimate delivery.
The former umpire admitted that the decision “influenced the game”, but said it should not be viewed as costing New Zealand the World Cup.
“It’s unfair on England, New Zealand and the umpires involved to say it decided the outcome,” Taufel said.
He also hailed seasoned umpires Kumar Dharmasena and Marais Erasmus and explained the difficulty of umpiring the specific situation.
“The difficulty you (umpires) have here is you’ve got to watch batsmen completing runs, then change focus and watch for the ball being picked up, and watch for the release (of the throw). You also have to watch where the batsmen are at that exact moment,” Taufel concluded.
