I made error but won't regret decision: Dharamsena on six runs awarded on overthrow in WC final

COLOMBO: Umpire Kumar Dharmasena has admitted that It indeed was a judgement error to award six runs to England from an overthrow in the World Cup final but the Sri Lankan also added that he will never "regret" the decision.

Dharamsena had signaled to add six runs to England's total, instead of five, when Martin Guptill's throw from the deep raced to the boundary ropes after being deflected of a diving ben Stokes' bat. The match was stretched to a Super Over which also remained inconclusive and eventually hosts England were declared champions on better boundary count, leaving New Zealand players in disbelief.

He said, "I agree that there was a judgment error when I see it on TV replays now. But we did not have the luxury of TV replays at the ground and I will never regret the decision I made. Besides, the ICC praised me for the decision I made at that time." The TV replays showed that Adil Rashid and Stokes had not completed the second run when Guptill released the ball from the deep.

Dharmasena, who was standing as head umpire, consulted leg umpire Marais Erasmus and added six runs to the England total following the incident -- four runs for the ball reaching the boundary plus two for running between the wicket. The 48-year-old added that according to the law, there was no provision to consult the third umpire on the incident. "There is no provision in the law to refer this to the third umpire as no dismissal was involved," he said.

Former international umpires Simon Taufel and K Hariharan had also come out and said the officials standing in the World Cup final erred by awarding six runs.

"One must understand that there were too many things on our plate. We had to watch the batsmen complete the first run, the ball being fielded, how it was handled by the fielder and whether the batsmen completed the second run. And where the throw would come from, the striker's end or non-striker's end." "In this case, we were all happy that the batsmen had completed the second run because the ball ricocheted off Stokes's bat at the time of him completing the second run. So, we assumed that they had crossed each other at the time of fielder releasing the ball," Dharmasena said.