In a recent turn of events, the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), guardian and the epic body of Cricket laws has announced that it will hold a meeting in September to review the overthrow incident which happened in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 final contested between England and New Zealand.
“The World Cricket Committee (WCC) discussed Law 19.8 in relation to overthrows, in the context of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Final. The WCC felt that the Law was clear but the matter will be reviewed by the Laws sub-committee in September 2019,” said MCC in an official statement.
Notably, in the final over of England’s chase during the final on 14 July at Lord’s, England all-round cricketer Ben Stokes came back for a two to try and remain at the crease. However, in the process, the throw from deep midwicket by fielder Martin Guptill hit his bat and the ball deflected and went for a boundary.
In a decision which changed the course of the match, Kumar Dharmasena, after consulting with square leg umpire Marais Erasmus signalled six runs. The decision meant that an improbable chase was now very much possible and they only needed three more runs to win from two balls and with their set batsman Ben Stokes on strike.
England eventually lifted the World Cup by virtue of hitting more boundaries as both the specified 50 overs and the super over ended in a tie. Later former reputed umpire Simon Taufel had said that the decision was in fact a mistake and England should have been awarded five runs.
Kumar Dharmasena who was criticised by many for his decision had later accepted the mistake but said that he did not regret the decision. The International Cricket Council (ICC) had also backed the umpire on the issue.
The MCC law 19.8 pertaining to overthrows states: “If the boundary results from an overthrow or from the willful 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.”
Now the issue will be discussed and reviewed in an MCC meeting in September.