When Martin Guptill’s throw from the deep deflected off Ben Stokes’ bat and ended up past the fence, England — at the time needing nine off three balls — were awarded six runs in all, four of them overthrows. However, given the batsmen hadn’t crossed at the “instant of the throw”, the law dictated that they should have been awarded five runs, which would have meant Adil Rashid being on strike.

As it turned out, Stokes faced the final two balls, levelled the scores and took the match to a Super Over. The scores were tied again at the end of perhaps the most dramatic match in the sport, but England won a maiden World Cup trophy on the basis of superior boundary count.

Having led his England side to victory in the #CWC19Final Ben Stokes has been nominated for New Zealander of the Year!

Read more ?https://t.co/YmEYvb9oC6

— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) July 19, 2019

The umpires came in for much slack thereafter, when it emerged that the extra run awarded was an oversight on their part. But Dharmasena, who awarded those runs after consulting square-leg umpire Marais Erasmus, has stood by his decision, despite admitting it was a mistake.

“And where the throw would come from, the striker’s end or non-striker’s end. In this case, we were all happy that the batsmen had completed the second run because the ball ricocheted off Stokes’s bat at the time of him completing the second run.

“So, we assumed that they had crossed each other at the time of fielder releasing the ball. These are things that happen in a cricket field.”