DUBAI: The International Cricket Council has come out in support of umpire Kumar Dharmasena for his controversial awarding of six overthrows, instead of five, to England in the World Cup final on July 14 at Lord’s. In their first public statement of the incident, the governing body insisted the ‘right process’ was followed.
The overthrow, which allowed England to resuscitate the chase from what had seemed a very difficult positions a ball earlier – when they needed nine off three deliveries – resulted in six runs after the balls skimmed off Ben Stokes’ bat to the third man boundary after he had dived to complete his second run.
Dharmasena said the decision was a collective one as he had consulted his on-field partner Marais Erasmus, a conversation that was audible to rest of the match officials.
“They (on-field umpires) had to make a judgement call on the day as to whether the batsmen had crossed when the throw was released,” ICC’s General Manager of cricket Geoff Allardice told ESPNcricinfo in a wide-ranging interview*. “After everything that went on during that delivery, they got together over their comms system and made their decision. They certainly followed the right process when making the decision.”
While there is no time limit for match officials to ascertain their decisions, Allardice said the playing conditions did not allow the third umpire or match referee, both of whom had access to the TV, to intervene.
“They were aware of the law when they made the judgment about whether the batsmen had crossed or not at the time,” he said. “The playing conditions don’t allow them to refer to such a decision to a third umpire. The match referee cannot intervene when the umpires on the field have to make a judgement call like that.”
He also said the entire final would be “considered” by the ICC’s Cricket Committee, led by former India captain Anil Kumble. However, the committee is not scheduled to meet until the first quarter of 2020.
Allardice also emphatically stated the importance of having a winner, when asked if there were questions raised about a shared World Cup, at the ICC Annual Conference in London last week.
“The consistent view has been that the World Cup final needs a winner and a Super Over was in the playing conditions to decide a tied Final in each of the last three World Cups (2011, 2015 and 2019).”
The Cricket Committee has also given the not to a stop clock to combat slow over-rates in limited-overs cricket. Allardice said this will be trialled over the next nine months in select matches to judge its effectiveness.
“In a T20 innings, the clock would start at 85 minutes when the first ball is bowled, and countdown to zero. The aim is that players, umpires and fans will know that when the clock gets to zero the bowling team should have started the last over. If there is a delay or interruption in the match due to an injury or a DRS review then the umpire will push a button on a timer that adds time back onto clock.”
