News Desk |
The International Cricket Council (ICC) has broken its silence over the ‘boundary rule’ that gave England victory over New Zealand in the World Cup 2019 final.
The cricket governing body’s spokesperson has clarified that it was against ICC’s policy to make any comments regarding the decisions made by umpires. ICC spokesperson said that the umpires’ decisions were based on their interpretations of the rules.
New Zealand coach Gary Stead has labeled the showpiece final “hollow” after England defeated the Black Caps on a technicality.
“The umpires take decisions on the field with their interpretation of the rules and we don’t comment on any decisions as a matter of policy,” an ICC spokesperson was quoted as saying by forxsports.com.au.
The World Cup final ended in major controversy on June 14 as hosts England were crowned the new champions due to their superior boundary count after a super over against New Zealand. The teams could not be separated at the end of both regular play and a Super Over shootout.
Read more: ICC warned MS Dhoni: Don’t wear Indian Army insignia
During the last moments of the final match, an overthrow which deflected off the bat of England’s all-rounder Ben Stokes resulted in six runs which helped bring the match into a super over.
Simon Taufel’s statement
The controversial end to the 2019 World Cup final was discussed more when the former umpire Simon Taufel claimed that the on-field umpires made a critical mistake when they awarded England six runs.
The ICC has broken its silence over the ‘boundary rule’ that gave England victory over New Zealand in the World Cup 2019 final.
“It’s a clear mistake. It’s an error of judgment. [England] should have been awarded five runs, not six,” Taufel had told foxsports.com.au. Taufel believed that since the batsman had not crossed at the time the throw was made, it should have been five runs. This would have resulted in a New Zealand victory.
“In the heat of what was going on, they thought there was a good chance the batsmen crossed at the instant of the throw,” Taufel added. “Obviously TV replays showed otherwise. The difficulty you [umpires] have is you’ve got to watch batsmen completing runs, then change focus and watch for the ball being picked up, and watch for the release [of the throw].”
Read more: ‘Very very happy’ Kohli sweeps top ICC awards
New Zealand coach wants rules review
Meanwhile, New Zealand coach Gary Stead has labelled the showpiece final “hollow” after England defeated the Black Caps on a technicality. He has called for the Cricket World Cup’s rules to be overhauled.
The teams could not be separated at the end of both regular play and a Super Over shootout.
“It’s a very, very hollow feeling that you can play 100 overs and score the same amount of runs and still lose the game, but that’s the technicalities of sport,” Stead told reporters in remarks released by New Zealand Cricket on Tuesday.
Read more: ICC Chief Richardson coming to Karachi for PSL
“There’s going to be many things they look at over the whole tournament – I’m sure when they were writing the rules they never expected a World Cup final to happen like that,” he said. “I’m sure it’ll be reviewed (and) there are many different ways that they’ll probably explore.”
Stead, however, shrugged off suggestions England had been mistakenly handed an extra run after a throw from a fielder hit the bat of a diving Ben Stokes’ and deflected to the boundary in the final over of regular play.