Ben Stokes asked umpires not to add 4 overthrows to England total, reveals James Anderson

During the thrilling World Cup final encounter between England and New Zealand at Lord’s, a throw from Martin Guptill deflected off Stokes' bat while he was diving to reach his crease to complete the second run. The ball got deflected and ran off to the boundary in the dying stages of the England run chase. Having taken into account the two completed runs and the resultant boundary from the overthrow, Stokes was awarded six runs, though some experts have opined that he should only have got five, which would have left England a run short of New Zealand's total of 241 for 8. Days after this game-changing incident, veteran England speedster James Anderson revealed that Stokes asked the umpires to take away the four overthrows that proved decisive during their summit clash. Anderson said that the England all-rounder, who apologised for the moment the incident happened by raising his hands, had appealed to the umpires to overturn their decision. “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,” Anderson said during a podcast. “I think, talking to Michael Vaughan who saw him (Stokes) after the game, Ben Stokes actually went to the umpires and said, 'Can you take that four runs off. We don't want it'. But it's in the rules and that's the way it is,” added Anderson. If Stokes had his way, the match might have never reached a tie and gone to a Super Over, where both teams scored 15 runs and England eventually won the World Cup on boundary count.