Umpire Marais Erasmus admit that he and Kumar Dharmsena made a massive error in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 final between England and New Zealand at Lord’s, which was directly responsible for Eoin Morgan-led team won the World Cup 2019 for first time in history.
For those who dont know, the 2019 World Cup is known as among the greatest games of cricket ever played.
This summit clash went into a super over after the match ended in a tie after 50 overs of action.
The super over also ended in a tie, but the hosts won the game due to a controversial boundary count rule.
Before the super over, there was huge drama in the super over as New Zealand look to set for victory before England had a massive stroke of luck going their way.
On the fourth ball of the 50th over, England needing nine runs in three balls, Ben Stokes goes a full toss from Trent Boult towards the long on-fielder and attempt to take a 2 runs.
But the New Zealand tried to run him out.
In an attempt to ensure he reach the crease, Ben Stokes made a full-length dive.
At this moment, the throw from Martin Guptill hit Ben Stokes bat, and the ball deflect towards the boundary line.
This completely change the course of the game, as England were given 6 runs.
The umpires assume that Ben Stokes and Adil Rashid had complete two runs, and the overthrow gave them four more runs.
But, Marais Erasmus admit that decision was wrong, as when Martin Guptill threw the ball, Ben Stokes and Adil Rashid had not cross each other.
Marais Erasmus said :
“The next morning I open my hotel room door on my way to breakfast and Kumar Dharmsena open his door at the same time and he said, ‘did you see we made a massive error? That’s when I got to know about it. But in the moment on the field, we just said 6, you know, communicate to each other, ‘6, 6, it’s 6 not realising that they haven’t cross, it wasn’t pick up. That’s it,”.
As per Law 19.8 of MCC Laws Of Cricket :
“If the boundary results from an overthrow or from the wilful act of a fielder, the runs score 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,"
This Law cleary showing that the umpires made a massive mistake to give England the extra run which help them tie the game.
