London: When the margin of error is slim, every aspect comes under the microscopic. Every run that was scored in Sunday's England v New Zealand final was worth its weight in gold. So, did the umpires err by awarding an extra run to England, something that has become a major talking point after the World Cup final was not decided by the margin of runs or wickets, but by the number of boundaries?

Needing 15 off the final over for England to chase New Zealand's 241-8, the equation was brought down to three runs off two balls after a throw from Martin Guptill deflected off Ben Stokes's bat and raced to the boundary when he was trying to steal a second run. England were awarded six runs, but former ICC elite umpire Simon Taufel felt the umpires erred and should have given five runs because when Guptill released his throw, Stokes and his partner Adil Rashid had not crossed each other. As a result, it cannot be counted as run and New Zealand would have managed to win the World Cup by one run.