Angelo Mathews of Sri Lanka expressed his strong disapproval of Bangladesh’s conduct as he experienced a “disgraceful” moment during his team’s World Cup loss in Delhi. This incident marked him as the first international cricketer to be timed out.
The already heated encounter took a fiery turn when Mathews was dismissed due to his failure to take guard within the allotted time after stepping onto the crease. Bangladesh’s captain, Shakib Al Hasan, appealed, leading to Mathews angrily leaving the field.
Much of the delay was attributed to a malfunction in Mathews’ helmet strap as he was getting ready to bat. However, the fourth umpire ruled that he had already exceeded the permissible time limit.
“I hadn’t done anything wrong,” said the 36-year-old. “I have two minutes to get to the crease and get myself ready, which I did, and then it was an equipment malfunction.
“I don’t know where the common sense went because obviously, it is disgraceful for Shakib and Bangladesh if they want to play cricket like that. To stoop down to that level, there is something drastically wrong.
“I still had five seconds to go after my helmet broke. I’m not talking about ‘Mankading’ [running out a batter at the non-striker’s end] or obstructing the field. I am just talking about common sense. It is absolutely disgraceful.
“We talk about the safety of the players, but you guys tell me if it is right for me to take my guard without my helmet?”
We’ve updated our previous blog post — how many ways to get out in cricket — as we’d previously said nobody had ever been timed out in the international game. A first!