Cricket fans and pundits divided by controversial Angelo Mathews dismissal: ‘This is pathetic’

Drama unfolded in Delhi when Sri Lanka’s Angelo Mathews was “timed out” in the ICC Men’s ODI World Cup clash against Bangladesh, becoming the first batter to suffer the dismissal in the 146-year history of international cricket.

The incident took place during Bangladesh’s three-wicket victory over Sri Lanka at Delhi’s Arun Jaitley Stadium on Monday. Mathews came into bat after Sadeera Samarawickrama was dismissed in the 25th over. As the former Sri Lanka captain prepared to take the strike, he encountered an issue with his helmet.

Mathews was unable to tie his helmet strap tightly enough, an action which delayed the resumption of play. This led to Bangladesh captain Shakib Al-Hasan appealing to the umpires, who held a lengthy discussion with players, including Mathews.

The Sri Lankan batter’s efforts to explain the situation to both umpires and Al-Hasan went in vain as he was declared timed out. As per the laws of cricket, after the fall of a wicket or the retirement of a batter, the incoming player must be ready to receive the ball within two minutes. There are 10 modes of dismissal in cricket, with timed out being the rarest.

Mathews reluctantly walked off and was clearly livid with the decision, leading to several reactions from the cricket community on social media. Mathews had the backing of quite a few former and active cricketers, including ex-South African pacer Dale Steyn, who thought the decision by Bangladesh and the umpires “was not cool”.

Former Indian cricketer Gautam Gambhir termed the incident “pathetic”, while ex-Pakistani bowler Mohammad Hafeez suggested that the “spirit of the game should always remain high”.

“Angelo made his crease then his helmet strap broke. How is that timed out? I’m all for timed out if he doesn’t make his crease but this is ridic. No different than a batsman getting to the crease then taking 3 minutes to face up,” wrote Australia’s Usman Khawaja on X/Twitter.

Mark Waugh, who played Tests for Australia from 1991 to 2002, wrote on X:” Forget the spirit of the game, forget the law how does a fair minded cricketer even think to appeal for this type of dismissal let alone actually carry it out.”

Former Sri Lankan cricketer Russel Arnold apparently agreed with Bangladesh’s decision to time out Mathews.

To make matters worse for Sri Lanka, they eventually lost to Bangladesh by three wickets and were eliminated from the World Cup 2023. Bangladesh were already out of the semi-final race.

Mathews did not mince his words during the post-match conference on Monday as he termed Bangladesh’s act as “disgraceful”. He also slammed Al-Hasan, saying he hasn’t seen anyone “stoop down to that level” to take wickets in his career.

“It was obviously disgraceful from Shakib and Bangladesh. If they want to take wickets like that and stoop down to that level, there’s something wrong, drastically. It’s a very disappointing way that Bangladesh played,” Mathews told reporters.

“If it was mankading or obstructing the field, there’s no issue. Within two minutes I was at the crease, and it was when I was at the crease that my helmet broke. The umpires saw this. I still had five seconds left. After I showed my helmet, the umpires said [Bangladesh] had appealed. So I asked where common sense was because my two minutes hadn’t passed.”

Mathews continued to condemn Bangladesh, claiming if it had happened against any other team, this wouldn’t have happened.

“Unfortunately (the strap breaking) happened against Bangladesh. I don’t think any other team would do that, because it was black and white. It was an equipment malfunction. It was a safety issue as well. We know that without a helmet I can’t face the bowling,” added Mathews.