'Five not a Six': Chris Gaffaney and Paul Reiffel avoid umpiring blunder of 2019 World Cup final
For the first time in Test history, England have gone in with just a lone seamer in their playing XI. Ben Stokes and the English team management have picked three frontline spinners for the 1st Test against India.
The ones who bore witness to the 2019 World Cup final can't forget Kumar Dharamsena's umpiring gaffe that ultimately cost the Kane Williamson-led New Zealand the silverware.
However, Chris Gaffaney and Paul Reiffel avoided the same umpiring blunder four years later and made the right call when it mattered during the first Test between India and England at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium in Hyderabad on Thursday, January 25.
What happened?
England's budding bowling allrounder Rehan Ahmed flicked an attempted yorker from Jasprit Bumrah on the last delivery of the 47th over and scampered for a couple.
Mohammed Siraj collected the ball behind the square and took a shy at the stumps at the bowler's end. The throw was wayward and miles away from the intended target. As a result, the fielder who was backing up, failed to gather the throw and it trickled to the boundary.
Reiffel signalled five runs and not six after both the batters (Rehan and Ben Stokes) completed two runs while running between the wickets.
Why five and not six?
Notably, both, Rehan and Stokes had not crossed each other while attempting the second run "at the instant of the throw" and as per the law 19.8 of the playing conditions the second run wasn't a valid one.
Hence, the umpires decided to award five runs instead of six to the batting side.
What happened in the 2019 World Cup Final?
With nine runs needed off three balls for England to win the summit clash, Stokes smashed a full-toss from Trent Boult to deep midwicket and raced to complete a couple. Martin Guptill who was patrolling the fence aimed at the stumps to run Stokes out but the ball ricocheted off the latter's bat and went to the boundary.
Dharamsena who was one of the on-field umpires officiating in the game had a brain-fade moment as he ended up awarding six runs to England instead of five and inadvertently cost the Blackcaps the trophy.
Notably, both Adil Rashid and Stokes had not crossed each other at the instant of Guptill's throw and therefore the Three Lions should have only got five and not the six runs that they were awarded.
Though Dharmasena doesn't regret the decision, he agrees that it was a judgemental error.