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World Cup referee admits error

World Cup match referee Jeff Crowe admitted that Sri Lanka had been mistakenly asked to come back on the field for a final three overs in the rain-reduced World Cup final against Australia.

Australia was celebrating its third consecutive World Cup victory after the Sri Lanka batsman had gone off for bad light when the teams were told they would have to complete the final three overs or come back on Sunday to finish the match.

The game was already completed because Sri Lanka had batted the minimum 20 of their reduced allotted of 36 overs.

Australia captain Ricky Ponting and his Sri Lanka counterpart Mahela Jayawardene agreed that the Australian spinners, instead of fast bowlers, would bowl the final overs because of the bad light.

Crowe told a news conference the umpiring team of himself, on-field referees Steve Bucknor and Aleem Dar and the third and fourth umpires Rudi Koertzen and Billy Bowden would take collective responsibility.

"It's a human error," he said. "It was a mistake."

Jayawardene said he realised the match was over when his batsmen were offered the option of going off for bad light.

"The umpires said we had to play three overs," he told a news conference. "We were surprised, we found out later they had got it wrong."

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