Umpires ignored England star Ben Stokes' overthrows plea in Cricket World Cup Final

Ben Stokes created arguably the most pivotal moment in ODI history during the Cricket World Cup final.

And it's now been revealed that England's World Cup hero had asked the umpires to overturn the decision that ultimately led to England's win over New Zealand.

With England needing nine off the final three balls of the final at Lord's, Christchurch-born Stokes was running back for a second run when a throw from Martin Guptill hit his bat and deflected to the boundary for four.

It meant six was recorded off the ball instead of two and Stokes eventually got two singles off the final two balls to force a tie and a Super Over.

"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," Anderson told the BBC's Tailenders podcast.

"But if it goes to the boundary, in the rules it's four and you can't do anything about it.

"I think, talking to Michael Vaughan who saw him 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.

"It's been talked about for a while among the players, potentially that being a dead ball if it does hit the batsman and veer off somewhere."

Stokes was quick to apologise to the Black Caps on the field and continued that after the match, suggesting he might have to say sorry "for the rest of my life" for the extra runs which he labelled "fluke".

"Playing against New Zealand is always a good event, they are good lads. I will be apologising to Kane for the rest of my life … It was written in the stars to happen for us," he said.

This article was first published on nzherald.co.nz and is republished here with permission