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Were the umpires wrong to award England six runs for this freak moment?

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15th July, 2019
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It was one of the craziest moments of the Cricket World Cup Final and in the aftermath, it’s only grown to be more bizarre.

Chasing 241, England needed nine runs to win from the final three deliveries when they received an all-time stroke of luck.

A Ben Stokes slog to deep midwicket for two became six after a miraculous ricochet from the resulting Martin Guptill throw off the all-rounder’s bat saw the ball race to the boundary.

The incident helped force a super over, which when the teams were tied once again, saw England prevail via a countback on boundaries scored.

However, some have questioned whether the home side was awarded one more overthrow then it should have been.

Law 19.8 reads, “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“.

Critically, just as Guptill let go of the ball, the two English batsmen had not crossed for the second run.

This would indicate England should have been awarded five runs rather than six.

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The ICC has yet to comment on the matter.

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