Umpire Steve Bucknor (left) talks with Australia captain Ricky Ponting (right) and Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene after bad light suspended play in their World Cup cricket final in Bridgetown, Barbados, onApril 28. - Reuters

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (CMC):

Steve Bucknor and the other officials that presided over the Cricket World Cup (CWC) final between Australia and Sri Lanka in Barbados have been disciplined by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for their inaccurate interpretation of the rules.

Cricket's world governing body announced yesterday that it would not be appointing the officials for the Twenty20 World Championship in South Africa from September 11-24.

"It would have been easy to let sleeping dogs lie and pretend nothing happened," ICC Chief Executive Officer Malcolm Speed remarked in a news release. "But the reality is that the [match] control team made a serious and fundamental error that caused the final of our flagship event to end in disarray and confusion.

"That was not acceptable for such experienced and talented officials an we do not like to have to take such action, we felt it was necessary to decline to appoint them for our next event, the ICC World Twenty20 Championship in South Africa. We feel that to stand them down for this two-week tournament is a proportionate measure."

Investigation carried out

Bucknor, fellow umpires Aleem Dar, Rudi Koertzen and Billy Bowden, as well as match referee Jeff Crowe, incorrectly ruled that - after a stoppage for bad light - the match would have to be completed the following day.

With both sides keen to avoid that fate and with the match already all but decided in Australia's favour, it meant the final three overs of Sri Lanka's innings were played out in near darkness. The rules stated, however, that to constitute a match, a minimum of 20 overs have to be bowled to the team batting second.

The ICC noted that in the wake of what happened, ICC manager for cricket, Dave Richardson, carried out a full investigation which included seeking the interpretation of all five officials and the result is the penalties imposed.