Ben Stokes had asked the umpires to overturn four overthrow runs: James Anderson

England won the World Cup for the first time on Sunday by defeating New Zealand on the basis of the boundary count. Many are criticising the ICC rules which decided the winner, the game had changed in the last over of the chase when the ball deflected off Ben Stokes’ bat to go for four overthrow runs. It led to the hosts coming back in the contest and having a realistic chance of winning the trophy. The game eventually ended in a tie and clearly, the overthrow runs helped England.

However, England’s Test pacer James Anderson has now revealed that Stokes had asked the umpire overturn the overthrow decision which would’ve cost them the World Cup. If at all, the on-field had obliged to Stokes’ request, the equation would’ve come down to seven runs off the last two balls.

The game-changing moment is being talked all over the world and Ben Stokes apologised to New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson soon after the incident. But the all-rounder’s gesture of asking to overturn the decision should win a lot of hearts.

You can’t do anything about it

“The etiquette in cricket is if the ball is thrown at the stumps and it hits you and goes into a gap in the field you don’t run. But if it goes to the boundary, in the rules it’s four and you can’t do anything about it. I think, talking to Michael Vaughan who saw him after the game, Ben Stokes actually went to the umpires and said, ‘Can you take that four runs off. We don’t want it’,” James Anderson said while speaking on the BBC’s Tailenders podcast.

Anderson also praised Stokes for having the presence of mind to ask the umpire not to add those four runs to England’s total. “But it’s in the rules and that’s the way it is. It’s been talked about for a while among the players, potentially that being a dead ball if it does hit the batsman and veer off somewhere.

“It was truly an incredible question to ask of the umpires, considering the gravity of the situation and the fact it would have left England struggling to force a tie after 50 overs of batting,” Anderson further added.