Mathews Timed Out, overshadows Bangladesh’s three-wicket win over Sri Lanka

Bangladesh's players (L) listen to the umpire as Sri Lanka's players watch during the 2023 ICC Men's Cricket World Cup one-day international (ODI) match between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi

By Champika Fernando in Delhi

In a bizarre turn of events — and for the first time in the history of international cricket—Bangladesh skipper Shakib-al-Hasan dismissed veteran Sri Lankan batter Angelo Mathews Timed Out, overshadowing their three-wicket win over Sri Lanka in their ICC World Cup match played at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi on Monday.

Despite posting a sizable total, a lack of penetration in the bowling in the middle overs and dropped catches cost Sri Lanka a game that was contested amidst great hostility following Shakib’s unprecedented action early in the innings.

After Sadeera Samarawickrema offered a catch to the deep mid-wicket fielder, Mathews walked in and took guard within the specified time period. However, the chin strap on his helmet came loose as he was tightening it.

Mathews took off the helmet and instantly called for a replacement.

By this stage, about a minute and 55 seconds had already passed since Samarawickrama had been dismissed. As Chamika Karunaratne was running onto the field with it, Shakib appealed and Mathews was given out. Mathews pleaded with the umpire and also explained his situation to the Bangladesh skipper, to no avail.
Even though he could have withdrawn his appeal, Shakib decided to uphold the decision--an atrociously poor tactic from a team that has nothing at stake in the World Cup.
Mathews left the field in complete disbelief, becoming the first international cricketer to be Timed Out in a cricket match. He threw his helmet away in anger and frustration as he approached the player dug-out.

Under the new rules of the ICC (they were changed from three minutes to two minutes in September 2022), the incoming batter should be ready to face the next ball of the match within two minutes of the dismissal. If this requirement is not followed, it is ruled as ‘Timed Out’.

The ICC rule says “(40.1.1) after the fall of a wicket or the retirement of a batter, the incoming batter must, unless time has been called, be ready to receive the ball, or the other batter must be ready to receive the next ball within 2 minutes of the dismissal or retirement. If this requirement is not met, the incoming batter will be out, Timed out”.
“40.1.2 In the event of an extended delay in which no batter comes to the wicket, the umpires shall adopt the procedure of clause 16.2 (ICC Match Referee awarding a match). For the purposes of that Law the start of the action shall be taken as the expiry of the 2 minutes referred to above.”

During the innings break reserve umpire Adrian Holdstock explained the incident to the host broadcaster Star Sports.
“As a batsman I think you need to make sure that you have all your equipment in place in order to make sure you get here, because you actually have to be ready to receive the ball within two minutes – not ready to prepare or take your guard,” Holdstock told Ian Bishop.

Chasing 280 to win, Shakib (82) and Najmul Hossain (90) shared a match-winning third wicket stand even though Dilshan Madushanka struck twice to leave them struggling at 41 for 2. It was Sri Lanka’s sixth defeat at the World Cup.

The story would have been different had Asalanka, the hero with the bat, caught Shakib at extra-cover off Mathews. Shakib on 7, came down the pitch and slashed it to the left of Asalanka, but the diving Asalanka made a costly blunder as the bowl slipped off his hand, denying Mathews sweet revenge and Sri Lanka an opportunity to put Bangladesh under pressure.
This was the second dropped catch. Earlier, Kusal Perera fumbled and spilled an easy chance at deep fine-leg when Liton Das pulled Madushanka.
Mathews came back to dismiss Shakib and pointed at his wrist, indicating that “it’s time to go”. Then Hossain was bowled by Mathews before Madushanka castled Mushfiqur Rahim for his third wicket with an inswinger. Maheesh Theekshana picked up Mahmudullah and Mehidy Hasan Miraz in quick succession but the horse had already bolted by then.
Adding to the drama, Sri Lanka players refused to shake hands with the Bangladesh players, walking off the field straight to the dressing room.

Sri Lanka’s bowling, barring Madushanka and Mathews, hardly offered a challenge to the Bangladesh batters, making their life easy in the middle. Madushanka, who’s having an outstanding tournament, added the wickets of Tanzid Hasan (caught by Pathum Nissanka), Das (trapped leg-before) and Rahim to become the leading wicket-taker with 21 wickets.
Despite the poor spirit of cricket shown by the Bangladesh cricketers, Sri Lanka worked their way towards a decent total –even after their top order perished quickly – on the back of Asalanka’s superbly paced knock 108 off 105 balls. This included five sixes and four boundaries to lead Sri Lanka’s response after being put into bat first. He played with responsibility and maturity to notch his maiden World Cup century.

Asalanka was involved in three valuable partnerships – first of 63 off 69 balls with Samarawickrema for the fourth wicket, 78 off 82 balls with Dhananjaya de Silva and 45 off 48 for the seventh wicket with Maheesh Theekshana to get Sri Lanka into a position of command at the end of their 50 overs. Theekshana made a handy contribution of 22 with the bat.
This was after Kusal Mendis (19) and Pathum Nissanka appeared to build the Sri Lankan innings with a 61-run second wicket stand following opener Kusal Perera’s departure in the final ball of the first over. Perera drove Shoriful Islam through the covers to kick off the scoring but that’s all he managed to do as Mushfiqur Rahim from behind the wicket grabbed an outstanding catch to dismiss the left-hander.

A wide and a good length ball enticed Perera to drive but the extra bounce took a thick edge and flew high off the diminutive keeper who completed a brilliant flying catch. Ahead of the game, Sri Lanka were contemplating to bring de Silva at the top but a change of heart at the eleventh hour saw Perera being trusted once more.

After getting into a slow but steady start, Mendis threw his wicket away while looking to take on Pakistan skipper Shakib over long-on where Shoriful Islam completed the catch. Nissanka once again was in cracking form with his 36 ball 41 but an inside edge off Tanzim Hasan Sakib saw his dismissal. It was then left to Samarawickrema and Asalanka to rebuild the innings before Samarawickrema was caught at deep mid-wicket for 41 runs.  De Silva complimented Asalanka well, building a solid stand, but when he danced down the crease to take on spinner Mehidy Hasan Miraz and missed the ball, he played to the hands of the Bangladeshis.

After Mushfiqur failed to collect it cleanly before breaking the stumps, de Silva could have attempted to return to the crease but he was too casual, giving the keeper the opportunity to uproot the stump with the ball in his hand.

The match was played despite the air quality in the city hovered between ‘poor’ to ‘severe’ due to smoke from farmers burning the rubbles from their crops, emissions from vehicles and factories, causing heavy smog in the capital city.