Colombo: The umpire, who awarded England six runs from a freak overthrow in the last over of the World Cup final, has admitted he made an "error" and should have given one run fewer, a report said yesterday. A throw to the stumps deflected off the bat of a diving Ben Stokes as he tried to complete a second run and raced to the boundary, with umpire Kumar Dharmasena awarding six runs.'

Three balls later the scores, at 50 overs, were tied as England reached 241 all out replying to NZ's 241-8. It took a Super Over which again was tied but England won by virtue of having scored more boundaries. Critics, including former umpire Simon Taufel, said England should have been awarded five runs, not six, as the batsmen had not crossed for the second run at the moment the ball was thrown.