ICC comes out in support of Kumar Dharmasena for his controversial overthrow decision
What's the story?
ICC has come out in support of the under-fire Kumar Dharmasena after his controversial decision of awarding 6 overthrows to England in the nail-biting World Cup final between the hosts and New Zealand. ICC's General Manager Geoff Allardice has talked in length about the controversial decision.
In case you didn't know...
In the final over of the tense final, Martin Guptill's throw from the boundary deflected after hitting the bat of the diving Ben Stokes and crossed the boundary rope. Dharmasena, after a long consultation with fellow umpire Marais Erasmus, awarded England 6 runs. However, many, including Simon Taufel, felt that it was an error on Dharmasena's part as only 5 runs should have been avoided. The former Sri Lanka spinner was heavily criticised in the aftermath of the final.
The heart of the matter
In an interview with ESPNCricinfo, ICC's General Manager of cricket, Geoff Allardice, has supported the on-field umpires for following the right process. Allardice said:
"They (on-field umpires) had to make a judgment call on the day as to whether the batsmen had crossed when the throw was released. 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."
He also talked about the reason why the third-umpire or match referee did not intervene.
"They were aware of the law when they made the judgment about whether the batsmen had crossed or not at the time. 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 judgment call like that."
What's next?
A lot has been said about the decision but the matter of the fact is that the match is done and dusted and Cricket World needs to move on from the whole episode.