Did New Zealand lose because of Dharmasena's wrong judgement?
Reputed Australian umpire Simon Taufel has indicated that New Zealand had to forego the victory because of an error of judgement by Sri Lankan umpire Kumar Dharmasena in the final over of the England innings and the game thus ended with scores tallying on both sides and the latter is responsible for the incident concerned.
Taufel who was subjected to the best cricket umpire in the world on 5 occasions has expressed this newspapers 'The Age' and 'Sydney Morning Herald' and as such it was reported in a number of
foreign media that the true beneficiary of the world cup is not England. The said decision in reference was given in the 4th ball of the last over which England faced. At that time England needed 9 runs to achieve over New Zealand and the runs had to be scored in just 3 balls. Having knocked the 4th ball en Stokes managed to collect the first run and when dashing for the second run, the fielder at some other point in the field directed the ball at the wicket; but it has struck the bat of Ben Stokes who was on the run. Having struck the bat, the ball raced to the boundary and on that occasion main umpire Kumar Dharmasena raised fingers and the 2 runs was signalled with the 4 boundary runs, indicating to scoreboard markers. It is at this point that the issue crops up with this decision. The ball races to the boundary after knocking Stokes' bat and by that time Stokes had made his run and had collected only one run and there was no 2 runs there and what should be recorded is 5 according to ICC Law book, Australian umpire Simon Taufel points out.
foreign media that the true beneficiary of the world cup is not England. The said decision in reference was given in the 4th ball of the last over which England faced. At that time England needed 9 runs to achieve over New Zealand and the runs had to be scored in just 3 balls. Having knocked the 4th ball en Stokes managed to collect the first run and when dashing for the second run, the fielder at some other point in the field directed the ball at the wicket; but it has struck the bat of Ben Stokes who was on the run. Having struck the bat, the ball raced to the boundary and on that occasion main umpire Kumar Dharmasena raised fingers and the 2 runs was signalled with the 4 boundary runs, indicating to scoreboard markers. It is at this point that the issue crops up with this decision. The ball races to the boundary after knocking Stokes' bat and by that time Stokes had made his run and had collected only one run and there was no 2 runs there and what should be recorded is 5 according to ICC Law book, Australian umpire Simon Taufel points out.
The law he points out is Law 19.8 which is as follows:
"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 the other 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".
Whatever it is, some others who argue contrary to this say that Dharmasena is not at fault and that when passing the 4th mark Stokes had completed the second run and therefore with an addition of that run the total of 6 is correct. Anyway, 2 runs later England achieved 2 runs and as a result the totals tallied. Simon Taufel's argument is that if the loss of this one run was recorded, this tally would not have occured and victory should go to New Zealand.
After scores were equal in the final game, both teams competed between each other and in that instance since both sides collected 15 each, again the totals tallied. Subsequently, the third rule came into force and England was awarded the world cup as the side that collected the most number of 4s and sixers. On this occasion it was the contention of most that New Zealand was unlucky. Though umpire Simon Taufel brought out this point, the ICC has so far not made any comments regarding Kumar Dharmasena's judgement. The video of the ball which created the uproar on this decision, from below