Ben Stokes appealed to umpires to remove four overthrows during World Cup 2019 final against New Zealand

England's Ben Stokes asked the on-field umpires to remove the four overthrows from their total that ultimately proved decisiove in the World Cup 2019 final against New Zealand on Sunday at Lord's. James Anderson revealed that Stokes was deeply apologetic at how things had panned out, and went to the umpires after the 50-over game was tied, asking them to remove the four runs that had gone to the boundary after the ball deflected off his bat accidentally. 

Chasing 242 for a win, England needed nine off the last three balls to win their first title. On the third last ball, Stokes drive a Trent Boult delivery to the deep, and was running back for the second run, when a throw from Kiwi fielder Martin Guptill hit Stokes' bat and ran to the boundary for a four. 

England were awarded six runs - two for the runs taken and four for the overthrow. It proved decisive, as the target came down to three from two deliveries, which reduced the pressure massively on England. 

However, Simon Taufel, former umpire, later claimed that five runs should have been awarded and not four as Guptill threw the ball before the batsmen had completed their second run. 

The match eventually ended in a tie and went to the Super Over, which was tied as well. England won in the end as they had hit more boundaries in the match. It left the Kiwi players distraught. 

However, in a heartwarming move, Stokes went to the umpires and asked them to remove the four runs, revelaed Anderson, his Test teammate. 

"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."

If Stokes had his way, England would not have been crowned the champions and the match would have gone to New Zealand. Stokes was even willing to concede the World Cup as he believed it was not morally right to win the title in this manner. 

However, the umpires declined his request, and though England won the World Cup, Stokes stated that he would be "sorry" for the "rest of his life." 

Kiwi skipper Kane Williamson, however, won hearts at the presentation ceremony, when he took the incident in his stride, and said they were helpless. Both Stokes, for his apologetic tone, and Williamson, for his brave face after a gut-wrenching game, won a lot of hearts.