Stokes' “Bat of God” episode: England should have been given five runs instead of six?

London: Finally at the end, England Team has crowned the world champions for the 1st time in men's cricket history after they beat New Zealand in the thrilling World Cup 2019 final at the Lord's Cricket Ground on Sunday.

It was entirely a true World Cup 2019 final as both England and New Zealand realized that cricket is a game of fine margins in the hardest way possible. New Zealand posted 241/8 in their 50 over. England finished with exactly the same total but was all-out in their quota of 50 over.

But had anyone realized whether Stokes' overthrows had counted for five runs when the English team was batting?

The Sentinel Digital is not disputing the fact that the overthrows should have been counted, that was clearly unintentional from Stokes, moreover, the laws state that the runs should be counted as overthrows.

But the laws of overthrows actually tell us:

“If the boundary results from an overthrow or from the willful act of a fielder the runs scored shall be (i) any runs for penalties awarded to either side and (ii) the allowance for the boundary and (iii) 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...”

Now here we need to see that the runs scored equal the boundary (4) plus the runs completed (1), and the run that was currently in progress (1). But the run in progress counts only if the batsmen had crossed at the time of the throw. So had Stokes and Ashid crossed by the time Guptill made the throw?

It is to be noted that if an overthrow goes to the boundary, the runs scored are not only the allowance for the boundary, but will include any runs that have also been run by the batsmen up until the time of the throw that caused the boundary, not by the time the ball crossed it. The run in progress at the time of the throw also counts if the batsmen have crossed. So, for example, if the batsmen are running and have crossed on their second run when a throw is made that subsequently reaches the boundary, they will score a total of 6 runs, 4 for the boundary, 1 that they have completed and 1 on which they have crossed. This would still be 6 runs even if they had run 3 or 4 by the time the ball crossed the boundary.

Also Read: Kane Williamson Becomes Captain With Most Runs In A Single World Cup