Australia's captain Ricky Ponting poses for photographers with the Cricket World Cup trophy in Bridgetown, Barbados, yesterday. - Reuters BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC):
Match referee Jeff Crowe has taken full responsibility for the chaotic end to the 2007 Cricket World Cup final at Kensington Oval on Saturday.
The former New Zealand batsman admitted he should have taken control of the situation and made a ruling, avoiding the confusion that ensued and which caused the match to finish in darkness at 6:30 p.m.
"It's a human error I guess, at the end of the day ... the match referee should have known and basically said that's not right, the game should be completed now," Crowe told reporters in a post-match media conference.
"Although as I said, light does not mean the end of the day's play, we still had plenty of time in allowances in there and there were still two overs ... still available to us therefore, even though it was unlikely to happen because it was getting dark all the time.
"I am very embarrassed for the Playing Control Team today. It is our mistake. It doesn't reflect on every umpire or Playing Control Team that actually officiated in this World Cup.
"I am the manager of the Playing Control Team so effectively what goes on in that dressing room and what happened today, this afternoon is my responsibility.
"These circumstances are very difficult at time to manage. It's a bit of a crisis scenario and hopefully we can learn from this mistake and get it right."
Australia's 53-run win was marred by confusion which erupted after Sri Lanka's batsmen accepted umpires Steve Bucknor and Aleem Dar's offer for light and went off at 6:12 p.m. in near darkness, with the game all but lost at 206 for seven after 33 overs in pursuit of the revised target of 269 from 36 overs.
With Australia having started their celebrations with the assumption the match was over and officials beginning to prepare for the presentation ceremony, match officials determined the match was actually not over, creating even more confusion.
After long discussions involving match officials and with the captains and with the possibility of completing the match on Sunday being raised, the match was finally restarted with Sri Lanka batting out the remaining three overs to finish at 215 for eight.
Real confusion
"The real confusion though occurred when it was suggested that the remaining overs would be completed tomorrow. I guess that's what put the teams in confusion (along with) the umpires and I guess the rest of you and everybody else at the ground, and obviously (those) watching on television," Crowe said.
"This was never a consideration and it was a mistake on our behalf as the Playing Control Team. I guess we will certainly learn from today's confusion and the mistakes that we've made.
"It's no excuse but we are all confused ourselves as to what the right direction was and how we were going to play it. The two on-the-field umpires were obviously working through the situation of the light, the third umpire is also involved in this process.
"You've got the fourth umpire and then there is the match referee which is me and in all hindsight I should have known the rules and said - the game should have been called off at that point."
