What is timed out law? Is everything fair in 'cricket' and war?
Cricket
Mathews becomes first batsman in cricket history to be dismissed timed out
By Anees-ur-Rehman
Veteran Sri Lankan all-rounder Angelo Mathews has become the first batsman in the 146-year history of international cricket to be dismissed timed out.
The Lankan player was adjudged timed out for taking more than two minutes to face the first ball during their World Cup clash against Bangladesh in Delhi on Nov 6. Bangladesh defeated Sri Lanka by three wickets.
What happened at Arun Jaitley Stadium?
The incident occurred in the 25th over of the Sri Lanka innings when Shakib Al Hasan dismissed Samarawickrama.
Mathews walked in to bat at No 6 and took his time to reach the crease. However, he faced an issue with his helmet as the strap broke the very moment he was about to take guard.
Mathews signalled to the dressing room for a new helmet. This pause prompted Bangladesh skipper Shakib to appeal for a timed out dismissal.
To everyone’s surprise, the umpires upheld the appeal, leaving Mathews in a state of disbelief.
Mathews approached the Bangladesh captain, but to no avail and walked back in dismay.
What does the rule say?
There is a minute difference between the laws of cricket and the ICC playing conditions.
The timed out law says: “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.”
ICC World Cup 2023 playing conditions
The ICC World Cup 2023 playing conditions pertaining to timed out dismissals read: “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 2 minutes of the dismissal or retirement. If this requirement is not met, the incoming batter will be out, Timed out.”
Fourth umpire’s explanation
Fourth umpire Adrian Holdstock explained the dismissal of Mathews during the innings break.
“The ICC World Cup playing conditions supersede the MCC laws of cricket,” Holdstock clarified.
“We have certain protocols and the TV umpire monitors the two minutes. He will then relay the message through to the on-field umpires and in the instance this afternoon, the batter wasn’t ready to receive the ball within those two minutes even before the strap, what became an issue for him, [broke].”
When asked whether equipment failure could have been considered in this case, Holdstock said the batter had to ensure all of it was proper before stepping in.
Mathews terms Shakib ‘disgraceful’
After the match, Mathews dubbed Shakib "disgraceful" as he became first victim of timed out in a bitter World Cup clash.
"I don't know where the common sense went because obviously it's disgraceful from Shakib and Bangladesh if they want to play cricket and to stoop down to that level. I think there is something drastically wrong," Mathews told reporters.
"In my 15-year career, I've never seen a team going down to that level because the umpires also admitted that it's equipment malfunction, and they could have gone upstairs and checked again."
He said Shakib had the option (of recalling me) but he didn’t.
Shakib defends his decision
Commenting on his decision, Shakib said he didn't know if it was right or wrong. He said that one of his teammates came to him and convinced him for appeal against Mathews.
"The umpire asked me if I was serious and whether I would take it back or not. I said no. It's in the laws; I don't know if it's right or wrong. I felt like I was at war. Whatever I had to do, I did it. There will be debates. Today that the timed out helped, I won't deny that," said the Bangladeshi captain.
History of timed out
The Mathews incident is a first in international cricket, while there have been six instances of batsmen being timed out in first-class cricket.
In 2007, India’s Sourav Ganguly was nearly timed out in a Test match against South Africa after he took more than six minutes to step out following a bizarre sequence of events. However, Proteas captain Graeme Smith did not appeal and Ganguly went on to bat.
