BlueAnorak
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The law states: 'If the boundary results from an overthrow or from the wilful act of a fielder, the runs scored shall be any runs for penalties awarded to either side, and the allowance for the boundary, and the runs completed by the batsmen, together with the run in progress if they had already crossed at the instant of the throw or act.'
"The crucial clause is the last part. A review of the footage of the incident shows clearly that, at the moment the ball was released by the New Zealand fielder, Martin Guptill, Stokes and his partner, Adil Rashid, had not yet crossed for their second run.
"There is potential scope for ambiguity in the wording of the law, given that it references throw or "act", which may pertain to the moment that the ball deflected off Stokes' bat.
My friend who is an umpire in the Birmingham League says "Wilfull act" or "act" means if the fielder deliberately throws the ball out of play to reduce the number of runs scored (e.g. the batsmen have already run 5 runs and the fielder throws the ball out of play to try and reduce the runs scored from the delivery). It does not apply in this case..
All that counts here is overthrows, and an overthrow is called if the ball goes over the boundary, no matter how it gets there; retrospectively applied to the point when the fielder threw the ball.
My friend would give 5 runs if he could see the players hadn't crossed, 6 otherwise. That said the speed at which professional players run makes it difficult to judge if they had crossed from the scoring umpires perspective. The other umpire had a much better view and should have given him a signal to say if he thought the players hadn't crossed the moment the ball was thrown.
So both umpires made a mistake but it happens and mistakes can't be delt with retrospectively. As my friend says if the mistake is not promptly corrected on the field the decision stands.
He also says the West Indian umpire was a bit keen on giving wides so another umpire would probably have knocked a few runs off the NZ total.
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