Allan Donald: I almost thought of going onto the field and saying ‘Enough’s enough, we don’t stand for this’

Delhi (Wisden) - Bangladesh bowling coach Allan Donald has said that it was difficult to watch the dismissal of Angelo Mathews, who was ‘Timed out’ in Delhi, and that his instinct was to walk out on the field and stop his skipper from going forward with his appeal.

Mathews became the first batter in the history of international cricket to be ‘Timed out’ after his helmet strap broke while taking guard against Bangladesh in the 2023 World Cup clash. Mathews immediately called for a replacement, when Shakib had appealed to the umpires for a ‘Timed out’ suggesting Mathews was not ready to face the first ball within two minutes, which is the stipulated time limit for a new batter to be ready for action after the fall of the last wicket.

Despite the umpires asking Shakib if he wanted to withdraw his appeal as Mathews’ gear had malfunctioned, he did not relent. A dismayed Mathews had to walk off without facing a ball, with the incident overshadowing the result. Bangladesh comfortably chased down 280 with 53 balls to spare.

Donald, who has been Bangladesh’s bowling coach since last year, expressed his displeasure at the manner of the dismissal, saying that the ‘Timed out’ has no place in the world of cricket.

Speaking exclusively to CricBlog, Donald expressed his views: “What just happened there? In the change room, I was dead quiet. We shook hands [after the match], well, we didn’t shake hands and I knew what was going to come after Sri Lanka had fielded, it was going to be a very, very blank reception. My immediate reaction when that happened, and this is just my instincts would have taken over, was that I almost actually thought of going on the field and saying, ‘Enough’s enough, we do not stand for this. We are not that kind of team who stand for this.’ That was my immediate thought.

“Things happened so quickly, and I’m not the head coach, I’m not in charge. I just saw Marais Erasmus say, ‘Angelo, you can now depart the ground,’ and seeing Angelo picking his helmet up and throwing it against the advertising boards, I was surprised. You talk about the respect and the dignity for each other and for the game and the spirit of the game and I just don’t want to see things like that. That’s just me.

“Okay someone was sharp out there and said well, you could appeal, and this cannot be happening. But we saw it and my instincts would have immediately told me to go out there and say, ‘Hey, that’s not gonna happen.’ It really overshadowed a great win, not really, it absolutely overshadowed everything because there was a lot of niggle out there, when Sri Lanka started bowling.”

Donald, who played 72 Tests and 164 ODIs for South Africa between 1991 and 2003 said the Sri Lanka team were angry while fielding and not without reason for such acts do not have a place in cricket. “There was anger and at the end of the day, like I normally do, I’m out there on the park, shaking hands, and I knew these guys were heading to one place and that’s the dressing room. There was no eye contact at all, no conversations, nothing. I don’t know, a lot of these players can call me old-fashioned but I don’t think there’s got any place for it. I just don’t think so.

“The most sensible thing would have been just to say, no worries mate, sort your helmet out quickly. You have time to replace it and I take an incident about Shoriful Islam, where he came out in the wrong shoes against Ireland in a Test match. He got green boots on with his whites and it took him time to take those boots off, well over time and nothing was said. Nothing.

“For me, it was disappointing to see, and I can understand Shakib taking his chances, and his words were ‘I was doing everything to win’ and you can sense in my voice that I don’t like it. It was difficult to watch that unfold.”