Sri Lanka’s Angelo Mathews’ timed out dismissal created debates all across the cricketing world as the experienced batter became the first ever player to be given out in such fashion during their World Cup clash against Bangladesh in New Delhi’s Arun Jaitley Stadium Monday.
The actual law on timed out dismissal states:
"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 two minutes of the dismissal or retirement. If this requirement is not met, the incoming batter will be out, timed out.
"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 (International Cricket Council match referee awarding a match). For the purposes of that clause the start of the action shall be taken as the expiry of the two minutes referred to above."
How it happened:
The incident occurred after the second ball of the 25th over when Sadeera Samarawickrama got out against Shakib al Hasan.
The next batsman, Mathews, came out to bat and took his guard at the crease.
Just before preparing to face the first ball, he tried to fix the lace of his helmet and it was seen that the strap was torn.
Then he immediately turned and asked for a new helmet.
Sri Lankan substitute player Chamika Karunaratne later came to the field with a new helmet and after wearing it, Mathews was set to face the first delivery.
But in between, captain Shakib and vice-captain Nazmul Hossain Shanto were seen talking with umpire Marais Erasmus.
All three were seen engaged in a conversation with smiling faces and later Shakib appealed officially with a gesture “out that”?
Then Erasmus went towards the leg umpire to discuss the matter.
By that time, Mathews looked surprised and talked to the umpires about his helmet, which caused the extra delay after taking guard.
Mathews even talked to Shakib but the Bangladesh skipper appeared to point at the umpires, indicating them to decide the next course of action.
And later, Mathews was declared timed out, which is the first ever instance in international cricket.
Although he was at the crease and ready to face the ball within the time limit of two minutes or 120 seconds after a batsman getting out, his helmet changing incident saw him lose his wicket which in total took almost five minutes.
Mathews looked extremely frustrated while returning to the pavilion and threw his helmet in frustration after crossing the boundary.
