Christchurch: Former Black Caps captain Glenn Turner believes England all-rounder Ben Stokes should have been adjudged out for obstructing the field in ICC World Cup final against New Zealand last year.
In the last over of the match, England needed nine runs from three deliveries with Stokes at the crease and teammate Adil Rashid at the non-striker’s end. The fourth delivery was hit by Stokes towards deep mid-wicket as the two batsmen scrambled for two runs.
Stokes drove full length to get inside the crease at the striker’s end and that is when Martin Guptill’s throw from the boundary hit his outstretched bat and went for four behind the wicket-keeper. England were awarded six runs, which in the end helped them tie the final and force the match into Super Over.
Stokes held his hands in the air straightaway so as to apologise for the unfortunate incident, however, Turner feels he should have been given out for obstructing the field. “I think that they gave the wrong result,” Turner told Breakfast on 1 News. “But to have given out the Man of the Match at the time for obstructing the field, which ought to have happened, would have of course changed the result. “Now that you are getting third umpires involved and they are seeing replays of things, they will be able to make those sorts of decisions in the future, I would hope.” The Super Over also ended in a tie as both teams scored 15 runs each. England went on to claim their first-ever World Cup title by virtue of boundary count, a rule that has been since scrapped by the International Cricket Council. Glenn Turner was one of the country’s best and most prolific batsmen during his time. He is the current head of the New Zealand Cricket selection panel.Turner made his mark on the first-class cricket scene, particularly with Worcestershire in the English county championship. In all, he played 455 first-class matches, amassing 34,346 runs at 49.70, including 103 centuries—making him one of a select few to score a “century of centuries”, one of only four non-English cricketers to do so (the others being Donald Bradman, Zaheer Abbas and Viv Richards).
Turner also coached the New Zealand side twice—once in the mid-1980s, when he presided over the team’s first and (to date) only series victory in Australia, and again a decade later. (IANS)
