Ben Stokes had asked not to award 4 overthrow runs in World Cup final: James Anderson

The ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 final between England and New Zealand saw one of the most dramatic contest and the hosts eventually announced winners on boundary counts after the match tied twice – first in the full game and then in the super over. The New Zealand, which looked certain to win the match after the first two dot balls in the final over with 15 needed on just four balls. However, the luck was clearly not in their favour and Ben Stocks who was on strike hit Trent Boult for a six which left England needing 9 runs off just three balls.

On the fourth ball, something dramatic happened that left New Zealand hearts broken. Stokes hit the ball towards deep midwickets for two runs. However, a throw from Guptil accidentally hit the bat of diving Stokes and deflected to the third man boundary for four runs. The England was awarded 6 runs and that is where the entire match slipped out of New Zealand’s hands. Unlucky there were but Ben Stocks had reportedly told umpires that they don’t want those four runs. England Test Cricketer James Anderson has claimed that the umpires ignored his request as they made the decision as per the rules.

RELATED

“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. I think, talking to Michael Vaughan who saw him after the game, Ben Stokes actually went to the umpires and said, ‘Can you take that four runs off. We don’t want it’,” James Anderson said while speaking on the BBC’s Tailenders podcast.

“But it’s in the rules and that’s the way it is. It’s been talked about for a while among the players, potentially that being a dead ball if it does hit the batsman and veer off somewhere.

“It was truly an incredible question to ask of the umpires, considering the gravity of the situation and the fact it would have left England struggling to force a tie after 50 overs of batting,” he further added.

Thanks to those four overthrow runs, England managed to tie the match and then scored 15 runs in the super over. New Zealand too scored 15 in and the super over score also tied. However, England were announced winners as they had hit more boundaries than New Zealand.