World Cup 2019 overthrow controversy: Did Ben Stokes really ask the umpire to cancel the extra runs? 'Hand to heart, No'

Man of the Match in the controversial final of the 2019 World Cup Ben Stokes has revealed that he did not ask umpire Kumar Dharmasena to cancel the extra four runs awarded after the ball bounced off his bat from a throw by Martin Guptill, following which the ball rolled away to the boundary. 

Ben Stokes contradicts James Anderson's claim

England's Test pacer James Anderson had earlier said that Ben Stokes had asked the umpire to cancel the extra runs off the overthrow as soon as it was awarded. However, the all-rounder has now contradicted the claims made by Anderson and has revealed that he just went up to wicketkeeper Tom Latham and apologized to him following which he tendered the same apology to New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson. 

“I saw all of that. I was thinking to myself, did I say that? But hand on heart, I did not go up to the umpires and say something like that to the umpires. I went straight to Tom Latham and said ‘Mate, I am so sorry’, looked over to Kane (Williamson) and said ‘I’m sorry’,” he said in the latest episode of BBC podcast Tuffers and Vaughan. 

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Recounting the Kiwi nightmare in the finals 

The incident had occurred on the third-last ball of England's innings, with the side then requiring nine runs to win from three balls. Stokes heaved a grounded shot and aimed to run for two. As the ball came in towards the end at which he was running, he dived to make it into the crease, and as he did so, the ball his bat, cannoning off to head to the boundary for four. The umpire signaled that it had been six runs. England eventually tied New Zealand's score, at which point the final went into a super over.

In the super over, England batted first, with Stokes and Buttler putting 15 runs on the board. In reply, Neesham and Guptill also scored the same runs, but England was adjudged the winners because they had scored more boundaries in their innings - a technicality that has polarised the Cricketing world.

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