The England all-rounder and star of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 final, Ben Stokes has denied the claims of him asking umpires to cancel extra four runs of overthrow that turned out to be deciding factor in England lifting the World Cup.
Talking to BBC Podcast , he said, “I saw all of that. I was thinking to myself, did I say that? But hand on heart, I did not go up to the umpires and say something like that to the umpires”.
He added, “I went straight to Tom Latham and said ‘Mate, I am so sorry’, looked over to Kane (Williamson) and said ‘I’m sorry’”.
In the final over pulsating encounter,England’s chase of 241 on July 14 at Lord’s, Stokes accidentally knocked the ball coming in from deep midwicket fielder and deflected it off to the third man boundary, while attempting to dive for his crease with an outstretched bat in a bid to complete his second run.
After consultation with Marais Erasmus and the rest of his umpiring colleagues, Kumar Dharmasena signalled six runs for the incident, meaning that England — who by then seemed to be drifting out of contention needing nine runs from three balls — were suddenly right back in the hunt for their World Cup glory needing three more from two.
England were adjudged winners of the World Cup on the basis of their superior boundary count — 22 fours and two sixes — to New Zealand’s 17 after the the match ended in a tie after regulation play and Super Over.
Earlier, England pacer James Anderson had claimed that the all-rounder, who was hugely apologetic the moment the incident happened, had appealed to the umpires to overturn their decision.
“I think, talking to Michael Vaughan who saw him after the game, Ben Stokes actually went to the umpires and said, ‘Can you take that four runs off. We don’t want it’,” Anderson had told BBC’s podcast.