England's World Cup dream shattered by a 'mis-counted' ball

A mis-counted delivery in the 26th over of their innings in the crucial Super Eight encounter against Sri Lanka might have ultimately cost England the match against the Sri Lanka and a semi-final berth in the Cricket World Cup.

England agonisingly lost that match by just two runs against the former champions after needing three runs for victory in the last ball, in a game where every ball counted.

Interestingly, the match officials were unaware about the gaffe when Sanath Jayasuriya bowled a five-ball over, thus depriving Michael Vaughan's men of the extra delivery which could have won the match, a report claimed.

According to the Daily Mail, Match referee Jeff Crowe later admitted that he had no knowledge of the extra ball that England were deprived of in a truncated 26th over that saw Ian Bell adjudged run out after protracted replays.

''I did not know about that. I have asked third umpire Rudi Koertzen and he is not aware of it either,'' said Crowe.

When informed about the mistake, he said that it was the first time he had heard of the collective mistake (by the match officials).

''Usually in these circumstances the TV people tell us about it as they have their own scorers but that may not have happened.'' Inspite of the fact that there were five experienced officials on duty, including Crowe, on-field umpires Billy Bowden and Assad Rauf plus third umpire Koertzen and a reserve umpire, yet none of them noticed the mistake.

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