South African cricket umpire Marais Erasmus, who officiated at the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 final between England and New Zealand, opened up about his umpiring decisions that could have cost the Kiwis their first 50-over World Cup title in 2019, including a controversial decision to runs to England after the ball hit Ben Stokes’ bat while running and ran towards the boundary. Erasmus, along with Sri Lanka’s Kumar Dharamsena, was one of the on-field umpires during the epic title clash between two countries, which saw the Three Lions win their first World Cup on boundary count after the regular match was level at 241 runs each and the Super also ended Over in a draw.
On the last over of the match, England needed 15 runs with Stokes and Adil Rashid at the crease. On the fourth pitch of the inning, the duo doubled. Before Stokes could reach his crease, Martin Guptill’s delivery hit Stokes’ bat and the ball raced towards the boundary. As English batters had taken two and the ball was heading towards the boundary, England were awarded six runs, reducing the deficit to three runs in two balls.
However, as per ICC rules, only five runs should have been given as both batters were not fully crossed while taking the second run, when Guptill’s throw hit Stokes’ bat. That decision proved to be extremely decisive as it reduced the deficit from nine runs in three balls to three in two balls. The match and Super Over ended in a draw and England won their first title as they had more boundaries.
Speaking to Telegraph Cricket, Erasmus, who earlier in March withdrew from umpiring after the second Test between New Zealand and Australia, said he subsequently had a discussion with Dharamsena over his decision. It was not their choice that Stokes-Rashid had failed to deliver the full cross during the second point and had ultimately given one extra point to England.
“The next morning (after the final) I opened the door of my hotel room on the way to breakfast and Kumar opened his door at the same time and he said ‘did you see we made a huge mistake’. Then I got to know But on the moment we were on the field, we just said six, you know, and communicated with each other: ‘six, six, it’s six’, without realizing that they had not crossed, that it had not been picked up.” Erasmus said as quoted by Telegraph.
Erasmus also said that one of his other mistakes, awarding Kiwi batsman leg-before-wicket for 15 even though the ball missed leg stump, also affected the game. The referee said the ball was too high and Kiwis had wasted their last review earlier.
“That was my only mistake in the whole seven weeks and after that I was so disappointed because it would have been an absolute turnaround if I had made the whole World Cup without any mistakes and obviously that had a bit of an impact on the match because he was one of their top players,” Erasmus admitted.
Erasmus was appointed to the Elite Panel of ICC Referees in 2010, making him the longest-serving current referee on the list along with Rod Tucker.
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