Former New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson admitted that the infamous Ben Stokes overthrow incident in the 2019 World Cup final at Lord’s was tough to accept. When reminded of the major umpiring mistake that gave England an extra run, the star batter jokingly remarked that the Kiwis “won it.”
England defeated New Zealand in the 2019 final at Lord’s amid controversial circumstances. Chasing the Kiwis’ 241-8, England also scored 241, forcing a Super Over. Remarkably, the Super Over ended in a tie as well, but England were declared winners under the unusual boundary count rule.
In the final over, Guptill’s throw hit Stokes’ bat and went for four, giving England six runs instead of the five they should have received. Speaking to Star Sports, Williamson recalled the tense finale and, on the unfortunate overthrow, defended Stokes, saying:
“I mean it went to the boundary and then the rule is the rule. So, you accept that. Stokes put his hands up and wasn’t obviously going to run, but it raced off as he deflected it accidentally.”
The 35-year-old said they were shocked by the umpiring mistake and joked:
“Yeah, there you go, so we won it. It’s a good feeling. It was quite remarkable to hear that afterwards and for the umpires to get that wrong. But, in the moment, you went just trying to control what you could control. That was one of those unfortunate things. Remarkable when you see it – Stokes is not even looking.”
Williamson Reflects On Pain Of Losing 2019 Final via Boundary Count Rule
Kane Williamson received widespread praise for his calm response when England were declared winners of the 2019 World Cup based on the boundary count rule. However, he acknowledged that the rule was hard to accept. The New Zealand star said:
“It was a quiet dressing room as you could imagine. There was a lot of disappointment. Obviously, tying there and then the Super Over we tied. So then, it was the boundary count, which unless you read the old manual, if anybody knew that was a rule really [sic]. Trying to make sense of that was the toughest part.”
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