Umpire admits to error in final
Ross Taylor didn’t think he was out – but Marais Erasmus did, and there was nothing the Black Caps star could do about it.
Taylor was given out lbw by umpire Erasmus in the unforgettable 2019 World Cup final against England at Lord’s, won by the hosts on boundary countback after the two sides were tied following their 50 overs apiece, and a subsequent Super Over.
In an interview with The Telegraph in the UK following his recent retirement from international umpiring, Erasmus said he regrets what he described as his only error of the tournament.
Taylor was on 15 from 31 balls at the time, with New Zealand struggling to get impetus batting first on a tricky pitch.
With the first ball of the 34th over, he was struck on the pads by a delivery from speedster Mark Wood, and Erasmus raised his finger.
“I thought it was high from the start, but you don’t really have an idea, then you get into the changing room and I see the ball flying over the stumps [on the TV replay],” Taylor told this writer last year when reflecting on the dramatic final.
“I went for a leg bye, looked up and I’d been given out – that leg bye could have been the difference.”
Taylor, the leading run-scorer in New Zealand’s ODI history, was unable to review the decision as teams were only allowed one review in their innings, and the Black Caps had used theirs unsuccessfully prior.
In the seventh over, bowled by Chris Woakes with NZ 29-0, Taylor’s close friend Martin Guptill was struck on the pad and given lbw. After a long discussion with his opening partner Henry Nicholls – who had already successfully sought a reprieve after being given out lbw – Guptill sought a review.
“I think Guppy thought he was out,” Taylor said last year.
“But it was Nicholls’ decision, they had a chat and he said ‘why don’t you have a look?’”
That look simply confirmed the decision to give Guptill out was correct.
“It was just too high but they had burnt their review,” Erasmus told The Telegraph about his regret in giving Taylor out.
“That was my only error in the whole seven weeks and afterwards I was so disappointed because it would have been an absolute flip had I got through the whole World Cup not making an error, and that obviously impacted the game a bit because he was one of their top players.”
However, the well-regarded South African umpire was also involved in another critical mistake in the game.
With England requiring nine runs from three balls for victory in their pursuit of New Zealand’s 241-8, Ben Stokes hit a delivery from Trent Boult to Guptill on the midwicket boundary.
Guptill’s throw was low, hard and accurate, and as Stokes dived to complete a second run, the ball struck his bat and deflected to the boundary behind wicketkeeper Tom Latham.
Umpire Kumar Dharmasena signalled six runs – but it should have been only five runs awarded as the batters had not crossed for the second run before Guptill made his throw.
“The next morning I opened my hotel room door on my way to breakfast and Kumar opened his door at the same time and he said, ‘did you see we made a massive error?’,” Erasmus said.
“That’s when I got to know about it. But in the moment on the field, we just said six, you know, communicated to each other, ‘six, six, it’s six’ not realising that they haven’t crossed, it wasn’t picked up.
“That’s it.”