Director of England Cricket Ashley Giles is not concerned about the controversy regarding the extra run which was awarded to England when a throw from Martin Guptill struck Ben Stokes’ bat during the final match of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 at Lord’s on Sunday.
In the final over of England’s chase of 242, Stokes accidentally deflected a ball to the third man boundary, while attempting to dive for his crease in a bid to complete his second run.
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After consultation with Marais Erasmus and the rest of his umpiring colleagues, Kumar Dharmasena signalled six runs for the incident; two runs ran by the batsmen and a four deflected off Stokes’ willow.
Asked whether it mattered to him. “Not really,” Giles said BBC Sport
“You could argue the last ball that (Trent) Boult bowled was a full toss on leg stump and if Stokes hadn’t just been looking for two he probably would’ve banged it out of the ground anyway, he said, adding, “We are world champions; we have got the trophy and we intend to keep it.”
Former international umpire Simon Taufel said that the umpires made a mistake while awarding six runs to England, instead of five.
“They (England) should have been awarded five runs, not six,” Taufel told foxsports.com.au. “It’s a clear mistake. It’s an error of judgment,” he added.
However, the ICC said the umpires took decisions on the field based on their interpretation of the rules, and the cricket body did not comment on the episode.
According to MCC law 19.8 pertaining to ‘overthrow or wilful act of fielder’: “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.”
(With inputs from IANS)
