CWC 2019: Dharmasena denies being asked by Stokes to take overthrow runs back

England was awarded six runs when a throw accidentally hit Ben Stokes’ bat in the last over of World Cup final.

Ben Stokes apologizing after the controversial boundary off the overthrow | Getty

ICC elite panel umpire Kumar Dharmasena has categorically denied the claims that he was being told by England all-rounder Ben Stokes to take overthrow runs back during the ICC World Cup 2019 final at Lord’s on July 14.

With England needing 9 runs from the last three balls, New Zealand 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.

Following the match, some experts including former umpire Simon Taufel had opined that Dharmasena made ‘an error of judgment’ in applying an unclear clause in the MCC’s laws and England should have been awarded five runs instead of six.

Almost a week after the heart-stopping final, a section of the British media claimed that Stokes had offered the umpires to take off the boundary. However, Dharmasena clarified that there were no such appeal made from the batting side.

Sri Lankan website The Island quoted Dharmasena as saying "there were no such calls made".

Veteran England pacer James Anderson also asserted that Stokes had asked the umpires to take away the four overthrows that proved decisive at the end.

"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," Anderson told the BBC's Tailenders podcast.

"I think, talking to Michael Vaughan who saw him (Stokes) 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," he added.

Meanwhile, Stokes had never admitted to calling the umpire to take away those overthrow runs. After the final, the southpaw had said he might have to say sorry for the rest of his life to the Kiwis for that overthrow.

 
 

By Salman Anjum - 22 Jul, 2019

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