Leaders Online Desk: England won the 2019 ODI World Cup because of my wrong decisions. “I am sorry for that mistake,” he said. Africa referee Marais Erasmus. He expressed this sentiment in an interview after his retirement.
Marais Erasmus recently announced his retirement. He was last seen umpiring in the final Test match between New Zealand and Australia from 8 to 11 March. After his retirement, he recently gave an interview to an English daily. On this occasion he regretted the two biggest mistakes of his umpiring career.
Erasmus (Marais Erasmus) said, I will never forget the final match of the 2019 World Cup. England needed nine runs from three balls. Ben Stokes played a big shot on the very next ball. He completed the first run comfortably with non-striker Adil Rashid. After that, both rushed to take another. The New Zealand fielder throws to the wicketkeeper's end. At the same time, Stokes rushed towards the crease to avoid being run out. But the ball hit Stokes' bat before reaching the hands of the wicketkeeper and crossed the boundary. Then there was a discussion between the second field umpire Kumar Dharmasena and myself. We both also interacted with the third umpire. After a discussion between the three, England were awarded 6 runs. But later it turned out that it should have been 5 runs, because when the throw was made, the second run was not completed by the batsmen.'
Error giving 6 runs instead of 5
'The morning after this match, when I came out of the hotel room, I met Kumar Dharmasena in the corridor, he said to me, 'Do you know that we made a big mistake in yesterday's match? Then I realized that Rashid and Stokes had not reached the crease when the ball was bowled. Due to which it is necessary to give 5 runs. But we were given 6 runs. At that time we realized that we had made a big mistake. Unfortunately this incident will never be forgotten,'
Ross Taylor regrets wrongful dismissal
“I also regret giving New Zealand's Ross Taylor wrongly lbw. After the ball hit Taylor's pads, the English players made a strong appeal. I also took a quick decision and dismissed Taylor. But later realized that the ball had hit the top of the pad. Taylor had to leave the field after my dismissal because his review was over. It was my first mistake in seven weeks of competition. Which made me very disappointed. Because if there was no mistake on my part, the outcome would have been completely different. “Obviously Taylor's dismissal affected the match,” Erasmus revealed.
