In a World Cup clash between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) ruled that the umpires were correct in declaring Sri Lanka’s Angelo Mathews “timed out.” Mathews failed to ready himself within the mandated two minutes to face Bangladesh captain and bowler Shakib Al Hasan, resulting in his dismissal with a time ruling.
Following a helmet malfunction, Mathews became the first player in international cricket to be dismissed for a time ruling. The strap of Mathews’ helmet broke before he could take guard, and when a replacement helmet arrived from the Sri Lankan dressing room, the batter was deemed to have overrun his time allowance.
Mathews voiced his outrage by calling Bangladesh “disgraceful” and criticizing the umpires for their lack of common sense in handling the “equipment malfunction.”
The MCC stated that Mathews should have notified the umpires about his broken helmet instead of waiting for a new one to arrive, asserting that “Had he explained to the umpires what had happened and asked for time to get it sorted out, they might have allowed him to change the helmet, perhaps calling time and thus removing any possibility of being timed out.”
Despite offers from umpire Marais Erasmus to withdraw the appeal, Shakib stood by his decision to dismiss Mathews, who also pleaded for reconsideration. Mathews argued that it was unsafe to face a bowler with a defective helmet, but the MCC stated that the batter should have involved the umpires to resolve the issue.
Ultimately, the MCC concluded that the umpires correctly made the decision to declare Mathews out, as more than two minutes had elapsed at the time of the appeal and time had not been called.
As a result of their loss to Bangladesh and with only two wins from nine matches, Sri Lanka is out of the tournament. In addition, the International Cricket Council (ICC) has suspended their membership due to government interference in the running of their board.
(Reporting by Amlan Chakraborty in Kolkata; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
