Did England score five runs and not six on Martin Guptill’s overthrow?

Footage of the incident shows Adil Rashid not completing his run

Overthrow-Ben-Stokes-NZ-ENG-AP Ben Stokes after the controversial overthrow | AP

The cricketing world had its ‘Hand of God’ moment on Sunday as Ben Stokes dived to secure his second run and accidentally deflected Martin Guptill’s attempt to run him out. The ball rolled to the boundary giving England a combined score from that ball of two plus four: Six.

It was a six that the hosts desperately needed at the third last ball of the game, and the one that pushed them to a draw that was later resolved — in England’s favour — in a Super Over.

Now, a contentious clause in the Lord’s rulebook has put the umpire’s decision of that match-changing overthrow to question. Section 19.8 titled ‘Overthrow or wilful act of fielder’ states that “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.”

In this particular case, there were no penalties awarded to either side as Stoke’s action was clearly accidental. The allowance for the boundary was four. The last part of 19.8 is the kicker: runs already scored would only be counted if they had already crossed at the instant of the throw or act. The two runs that Stokes and Adil Rashid made add to the four to make six — just what the England team needed to comfortably draw the score even by end of the innings.

But, footage of the match shows that Rashid had not yet completed his run at the time of the throw — nor at the time of the act itself (Stokes’s bat hitting the ball). This means that the duo had only scored five runs in total.

ben-stokes-overthrow-moment Adil Rashid can be seen well ahead of the line as Stokes makes his dive | ICC

The match went on to get decided in a Super Over, where England scored more boundaries than New Zealand to lift their first cricket World Cup in history.

“Is that a fair way of deciding a World Cup final?”. New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson was asked this question as the post-match World Cup final and he responded with a sad chuckle. “I suppose you never thought you’d have to ask that question and I never thought I’d have to answer it.”

Controversy was bound to raise its head and it did. Many cricket fans, including Yuvraj Singh, took umbrage at the way the match was decided.

Chetan Bhagat chimed in as well. Many fans tweeted under the hashtag #ICCRules to express their displeasure.

Some drew parallels between Maradona's 'Hand of God' moment at the 1986 FIFA World Cup semifinal between Argentina and England.