On Saturday, the International Cricket Council (ICC) came forward in defence of Umpire Kumar Dharamsena over his controversial decision to award England with one extra run. In what seemed to be a simple mistake costed New Zealand their World Cup title.
During the final match of the ICC World Cup 2019, where England defeated New Zealand on the basis of their boundary count after a tied Super Over, umpire Dharamsena award England 6 runs instead of 5 that resulted the two teams to tie.
For the first time ICC released a statement over the controversy, stating that the ‘right process’ had been followed by the umpire.
During the final over of the New Zealand- England final encounter at Lord’s on 14 July made history as the throw of Martin Guptill had diverted off Ben Stokes’ bat, reaching the boundary. England was granted six runs which helped the host to tie with the opponent’s 241. The tie led to a Super Over which too resulted in a tie and the boundary count decided the winner of the mega tournament.
The controversy began when professionals from the field pointed out that Adil Rashid and Ben Stokes had not finished their second run.
ICC’s Official told ESPNCricinfo that, “The umpires had to make a judgement call on the day as to whether the batsmen had crossed when the throw was released.” Furthermore, “After everything that went on during that delivery, they got together over their comms system made their decision. They certainly followed the right process when making the decision.”
Suggesting the Umpires are aware of the law and made their decision according.