• Umpiring gaffes part and parcel of cricket 

The revelation made by recently retired ICC elite panel umpire South African Marais Erasmus, of a ‘massive mistake’ in the 2019 Men’s ODI World Cup final, that hosts England won in rather controversial fashion at iconic Lord’s, further proves the age-old adage, that ‘umpires after all are only human’.

Prior to this disclosure, on the part of Erasmus, his umpiring colleague at the showpiece final five years ago, Sri Lankan Kumar Dharmasena, too had admitted to his own bloomer of awarding six rather than five, for a freak overthrow, in the last over of the World Cup final.

The former Sri Lankan cricketer, had in fact owned up to his gaffe, five years ago, when in fact he ought to have given one run fewer, to the eventual winners England.

At the final, a throw to the stumps, deflected off the bat of a diving Ben Stokes, as he attempted to complete a second run and it raced to the boundary, with Dharmasena awarding six. 

However, three deliveries later, the scores at 50 overs were tied, as hosts England reached 241 all out, in response to New Zealand’s 241-8.

It took the cliffhanger final to a Super Over, which again was tied but, Eoin Morgan’s men, lifted the coveted trophy for the first time ever, by virtue of having scored more boundaries than the Black Caps with the bizarre boundary count back, now being totally scrapped by the game’s world ruling body.

Since the conclusion of that final, critics have been unanimous, in saying that former champions England should have been awarded five runs, instead of six according to the laws, as the two English batters had not crossed for the second run, at the precise moment the ball was thrown.

Hence, the wider consensus among critics in world cricket was that Kane Williamson’s team were clearly robbed of their victory in the 2019 final.

This is now further underscored, by the most recent admission of a serious mistake, on the part of one of the official’s, who stood in that game, Erasmus.

“The next morning (after the final) I opened my hotel room door on my way to breakfast and Kumar (Dharmasena) 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,” Erasmus had reportedly told ‘The Telegraph’, recalling the now famous incident, during an interview upon his retirement.

“But, in the moment on the field, we just said six, you know, communicated to each other, ‘six, six, six, it’s six, not realising that they haven’t crossed, it wasn’t picked up. That’s it.”   

Dharmasena, for his part in the aftermath of the final, had divulged to the local press that at the time, he had not had the benefit of television replays, which showed the two batters had not crossed.

He had in fact candidly admitted to making an error of judgement, due to not having TV replays at the ground, but at the same time had steadfastly asserted, that he does not rue the decision he had made.

The ex-player had also insisted that he had signalled six, after consulting the other match officials.

Hence, the recent revelation made by Erasmus, of a clear mistake being made by him and his officiating partner, at the 2019 World Cup final, does not come as bombshell news, anymore.

This is because it is all history now and much water has flowed under the bridge and nothing could be reversed, as far as the final outcome is concerned.

What is rather astonishing is Erasmus’s failure to touch on the controversial ‘time out’ decision that he gave during Sri Lanka’s tie against Bangladesh, during last year’s men’s ICC 50-over World Cup in India, at the behest of ‘Tigers’ then captain Shakib Al Hasan.

The controversial actions resorted to by the South African match official, saw ex-Sri Lanka skipper Angelo Mathews, becoming the first batter to be dismissed in that manner in the game’s 140-year plus history and the incident has contributed to bad blood among players of the two teams, to this day. 

Hence it would be interesting to see whether Erasmus, will tackle it a few years down the line, by claiming it too was a faux pas on his part, but his silence on it is definitely deafening.  

In fairness to match umpires, it must be said that they all have to make complicated judgments at times, during the course of performing their onerous duty.

Furthermore  it would be wholly unjust to claim that the faux pas on the part of Dharmasena and Erasmus, completely altered the outcome of the tournament, as it is impossible to know for sure, what would have happened in the final balls, had five been awarded.