England awarded extra run in Cricket World Cup final win

Jul 16, 2019 06:00 am

England were mistakenly awarded an extra run during the Cricket World Cup final victory over New Zealand at Lord's, a member of the sport's chief rules committee told the media yesterday.

A freak fielding deflection off Ben Stokes' bat that raced to the boundary saw the team awarded six runs with three balls to go in the final over on Sunday.

New Zealand and England were level on 241 runs after 50 overs apiece which forced a Super Over - six balls with the highest-scoring team emerging as the victors - with England then handed their first-ever World Cup victory for their superior boundary count.

But former umpire Simon Taufel told Fox Sports Australia that umpires had made a "clear mistake", as the batsmen had not crossed for their second run.

"They should have been awarded five runs, not six," he said, adding that England's Adil Rashid should have faced the second-last ball instead of Stokes as a result.

Taufel defended the match umpires, who he said had to make a complicated judgment, and said it would be "unfair" to say the decision altered the outcome of the tournament. - AFP