“Did you see we made a massive error?” 2019 World Cup final umpire opens up about huge MISTAKE that won England the World Cup

Marais Erasmus spoke about the infamous "6" in the final over of the 2019 ODI World Cup.

“Did you see we made a massive error?” 2019 World Cup final umpire opens up about huge MISTAKE that won England the World Cup

Marais Erasmus and Ben Stokes (Image via Imago and ESPN)

The 2019 ODI World Cup is probably the most controversial match of all time. It saw the first super-over in the history of the format and in World Cup history, with the super over getting tied. Ultimately, the match was awarded to England as they won on boundary count. 

During the final over of the match, a controversial moment occurred. Ben Stokes hit the ball towards deep midwicket and Martin Guptill fielded the ball. He threw it to the batter’s end and Stokes dived as he completed his 2nd run. Unfortunately, the ball hit Stokes’ bat and it went rolling for a boundary. 

YouTube video

Umpire Kumar Dharmasena gave six runs, as the batters ran two plus the runs with the overthrow boundary, but it was the wrong decision. When Guptill threw the ball, both Stokes and Adil Rashid did not cross each other. Instead of 6 runs, they should’ve been awarded five.  

One of the umpires in the match, Marais Erasmus, spoke to The Telegraph about the match. The recently retired umpire revealed that he and Dharmasena met the morning after the finals and realized their mistake. 

The next morning I opened my hotel room door on my way to breakfast and Kumar opened his door at the same time and he said, ‘Did you see we made a massive error? That’s when I got to know about it. But in the moment on the field, we just said six, you know, communicated to each other, ‘six, six, it’s six’ not realizing that they haven’t crossed, it wasn’t picked up. That’s it.
Marias Erasmus said

Marais Erasmus reveals toughest players to deal with 

Marais Erasmus has been an umpire for over 20 years, making his first appearance as umpire in 2002. In 2006 he made his first appearance as an international umpire and since then has been rated as one of the most respected umpires of all time. Despite this, players have tried to intimidate him regularly. 

Marais Erasmus
Marais Erasmus (Image via Imago)
Ricky Ponting and Mahela Jayawardene tried to intimidate us. Sometimes it was subtle and sometimes not subtle.
Marais Erasmus told The Telegraph

Erasmus recently retired from international umpiring. His final match as umpire came in February during the first Test between New Zealand and Australia. He has umpired in 80 Tests, 124 ODIs, 43 T20Is and 18 WT20Is. 

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