EXPLAINED: Why was Angelo Mathews out before facing a ball against Bangladesh?
Cricket is known for churning out the weirdest incidents amidst a smooth-going game. Just when everyone thought they had seen it all, a one-of-a-kind dismissal took place, that too on a World Cup stage. During the first innings of the game between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, Angelo Mathews was timed out, which made him the first batter to get dismissed this way.
So, the whole incident unfolded during the 25th over of the innings. After the dismissal of Sadeera Samarawickrama, Angelo Mathews was set to come in. While he was streaming in, the strap of Angelo Mathews’ helmet broke. So he wasted a few minutes while trying to settle it.
Soon, one of the players came out with a different helmet. However, the umpires and Bangladesh players were not happy with the delay. Bangladesh appealed for a timeout, and after the chat with each other, the two umpires adjudged Mathews out, which is within the law.
Angelo Mathews tried to plead with the opposition captain, Shakib Al Hasan and then tried to explain his case to the umpires. However, Shakib didn’t withdraw his appeal, and Angelo Mathews had to walk back. He was fuming, but it was well within the law.
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MCC’s law 40.1 deals with the timed-out cases for a batter.
According to Law 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 for the other batter to be ready to receive the next ball within 3 minutes of the dismissal or retirement. If this requirement is not met, the incoming batter will be out, Timed out.”
So, Mathews took more than three minutes to get ready to face the ball. He clearly took more than the cut-off time. Hence, the appeal by the Bangladesh team was accepted by the umpires, and Mathews had to walk back.
It was the first-ever such instance in international cricket. Angelo Mathews became the first-ever player to be timed out in the long history of international cricket. However, it has happened six times in first-class cricket before.
However, Shakib could have withdrawn his appeal and let Mathews bat because it wasn’t done deliberately, and things unfolded without anyone’s fault. Mathews didn’t break the straps willingly, so the delay wasn’t intentional. It was all uncontrollable by everyone involved.
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