New Zealand captain Kane Williamson waits for the World Cup trophy presentation ceremony after the final (AP Photo)New Zealand team members and the coaching staff are still in the process of wrapping their heads around the complexity of the overthrow rule that was brought to light as a result of a series of bizarre incidents in the final stages of the World Cup final at Lord’s on Sunday.
Speaking to New Zealand Herald on Tuesday, both skipper Kane Williamson and outgoing batting coach Craig McMillan said that they were not entirely aware of the overthrow rule as was laid out by former umpire Simon Taufel on Monday.
Taufel said that the umpires erroneously awarded England one extra run in the 50th over. He explained that the five runs should have come off the fourth delivery of the last over of England’s innings because the overthrow rule states that runs shall not be awarded if the batsmen do not cross the middle of the pitch “at the instant of the throw.”
Craig McMillan, a former New Zealand batsman and the batting coach of this squad, said, “I didn’t know that rule, to be perfectly honest. I’ve played a lot of games of cricket, watched a lot of cricket and overthrows have always been added to what’s been run, as opposed to the point of the throw coming in.”
Skipper Kane Williamson said, “I actually wasn’t aware of the finer rule at that point in time, obviously you trust in the umpires and what they do. I guess you throw that in the mix of a few hundred other things that may have been different.”
“The umpires are there to rule and they’re human as well, like players, sometimes errors are made,” rationalized head coach Gary Stead. “That’s just the human nature of sport, and why we care so much about it as well.”
