LONDON: Marais Erasmus, one of the on-field umpires during the 2019 Cricket World Cup final between England and New Zealand, has come forward to address the error made by the officials during the thrilling summit clash.
In a crucial moment of the match, Martin Guptill’s throw deflected off Ben Stokes’ bat and went to the boundary during the final over of England’s run chase. As a result, England was awarded six runs – two for running and four overthrows. However, according to Law 19.8 in the MCC rulebook, England should have been awarded five runs instead of six since the batters did not cross at the moment of the throw.
Erasmus acknowledged the mistake made by the umpires, revealing that he only became aware of it the next morning when he spoke with fellow umpire Kumar Dharmasena. He explained that during the match, they had communicated to each other that it was six runs without realizing that the batters hadn’t crossed.
Reflecting on the incident, Erasmus expressed regret over the error but emphasized that it was not intentionally overlooked during the match.
The outcome of the 2019 World Cup final was determined by boundary countback after the match and the subsequent Super Over ended in a tie, resulting in England being crowned champions.
