‘I will be apologizing for that the rest of my life,’ Ben Stokes on the deflected boundary

England finally realized their dream of winning the ICC World Cup as they played probably the greatest ODI of all time and definitely the most amazing final ever. New Zealand probably didn’t do anything wrong, as the match was tied, twice. Still, they lost out on becoming the World Champs, due to a technicality when there was nothing to differentiate between the two teams.

The Man of the Match in the final Ben Stokes kept the England team in the game despite wickets falling all around him. He managed to take the game deep and got them a tie when it was looking almost impossible for the team to win. However, there was a stroke of luck and some help from Martin Guptill who was the field which made the tie possible, as his throw at the wicketkeeper’s end went for four overthrows.

Stokes says he will apologize to the Kiwis for rest of his life

Ben Stokes was haring down towards the keeper’s end to regain strike as Guptill’s throw rocketed towards Tom Latham. Stokes dived to make his ground, and the throw hit his bat and diverted towards the boundary and went for four. In total, England were awarded six runs and it changed the equation of the game. Stokes, when asked about that, said that “I said to Kane I’ll be apologizing for that for the rest of my life.”

As per the etiquette of cricket, batsmen don’t run for overthrows when the ball gets deflected off their bat. Stokes was lying flat out on the ground, had no intention of running and as the ball hit the boundary ropes, the England all-rounder had his arms up in the air, indicating that he had nothing to do with it and also apologizing to the New Zealand team. The umpires discussed and finally awarded the home team six runs in total, much to the dismay of Kane Williamson and his squad.

According to Law 19.8, “If the boundary results from an overthrow or from the wilful act of a fielder, the runs scored shall be any runs for penalties awarded to either side, and the allowance for the boundary, and the runs completed by the batsmen, together with the run in progress if they had already crossed at the instant of the throw or act.”

Going by this, England should have been awarded only five runs, and not six. At the same time Adil Rashid should’ve been on strike not Stokes and it seems wrong interpretation of the law may have taken away the chance from Black Caps to become the World Champs.