Timed Out is one of the least-spoken about dismissals in cricket at any level but a recent incident at the 2023 World Cup involving Angelo Mathews and Shakib al Hasan brought the focus back on it.
In this piece, we look at the various aspects of the Timed Out law in the sport, what exactly transpired between Mathews and Shakib and whether it was within the laws and the spirit of the game.
What is the Timed Out Law in cricket?
Timed Out is one of the methods by which a batter can be dismissed in a game of cricket. It is also the rarest form of dismissal in the sport and before November 6, 2023, no batter had ever been dismissed this way in the history of the sport spanning way back to 1877.
According to MCC, the custodians of the laws of the game, a batter can be given out in this fashion if he/she doesn’t get to the batting crease within three minutes of the previous dismissal or a player getting retired hurt.
The law 40.1 which deal with Timed Out
states:
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.
40.1.2: In the event of an extended delay in which no batter comes to the wicket, the umpires shall adopt the procedure of Law 16.3 (Umpires awarding a match). For the purposes of that Law the start of the action shall be taken as the expiry of the 3 minutes referred to above.
40.2 Bowler does not get credit
The bowler does not get credit for the wicket.
This law was tweaked for the World Cup 2023. According to the ICC Playing Conditions for that tournament, the incoming batter should “be ready to receive the ball” within two minutes of a dismissal or a batter retiring.
This rule was introduced in ODI cricket in June 2023, i.e. the change from 3 minutes to 2 minutes. For Test cricket, this continues to remain three minutes while for T20Is it is 90 seconds.
What did the Playing Conditions at the 2023 World Cup say?
As mentioned earlier, the playing conditions for this tournament needed the batters to be ready within 120 seconds (tw0 minutes) of the previous batter having gotten out or retired hurt. Failing to do so, they can be declared out, Timed out.
Spirit of the game should remain high always. @Angelo69Mathews @BCBtigers @Sah75official @ICC #CWC23 pic.twitter.com/MFl5ErQQWQ
— Mohammad Hafeez (@MHafeez22) November 6, 2023
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What happened to Angelo Mathews at the 2023 World Cup?
So now that we have an idea about what Timed Out is, we can take a look at what happened to Sri Lankan all-rounder Angelo Mathews at the 2023 World Cup.
When and where did this Mathews Timed Out incident occur?
It happened in the 38th game of the 2023 World Cup between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, played at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi.
Who were the players involved in the Mathews Timed Out dismissal?
Mathews was one, obviously. The umpires were Marais Erasmus and Richard Illingworth while the Bangladesh captain who appealed for it was Shakib al Hasan. Mathews was waiting on a spare helmet to arrive and it was brought to him by Chamika Karunaratne.
What actually transpired when Mathews was given out Timed Out?
Sri Lanka middle-order batter Sadeera Samarawickrama had just been dismissed off the bowling of Bangladesh captain Shakib al Hasan off the second ball of the 25th over. All-rounder Angelo Mathews had just jaunted out to the crease.
Before he could face his first ball though, Mathews looked like he had an issue with his helmet – the helmet strap broke off – and asked the 12th man to come out with a spare piece of that equipment.
Captain Shakib al Hasan, who was also the bowler, was waiting on Mathews to take strike and after having taken his time doing that, walked towards the umpire Marais Erasmus.
He asked the umpire whether he can appeal for Timed Out. Erasmus responded with a smile asking Shakib if he was serious. Shakib appealed again, this time with his hands raised as well reiterating he was not joking.
Erasmus – and Richard Illingworth – worked up to Mathews, informing him about the appeal and decision to rule him out.
At first even Mathews thought he was joking but when Erasmus said the appeal had been made and he had no option but to rule him out, the Sri Lankan all-rounder looked shocked.
Mathews tried to reason out with the umpires, Marais Erasmus and Richard Illingworth and with Shakib as well, explaining it was a matter of an equipment issue but with the Bangladesh captain opting not to withdraw his appeal, the umpires had no option but to rule him out.
According to former West Indian pacer Ian Bishop who was one of the commentators during the game, had a word with Mathews after the innings. Mathews said he thought he had some time while also informing the watchers that there was no discretion that the umpires could show for equipment malfunction.
Bishop also said Shakib was asked on two separate occasions by the umpires if he would like to withdraw the appeal but the Bangladesh captain refused both times.
Was Mathews actually ready to take strike?
According to the visuals on offer, Mathews had walked up to the batting crease and was about to take his guard but before he could do that, he pulled on his helmet strap and ended up breaking it.
This forced him to call for the substitute player to bring out a new helmet, probably oblivious of the fact that he could well be declared out. For a good reason too given no batter has been dismissed like this in international cricket before that.
Unfortunately for Mathews, with him not ready to take strike within the stipulated two-minute timeframe, Shakib was well within his rights to appeal for Timed Out.
And once the umpires had confirmed with Shakib that he wasn’t ready to withdraw his appeal, the decision was made against Mathews.
Later the fourth umpire in the game, Adrian Holdstock confirmed that Mathews had not gotten ready to face the bowler within the stipulated two minute period even before his helmet came undone. What seemed to have happened is Shakib’s appeal came even before the Mathews helmet issue began.
According to Holdstock, the batter needs to be at the crease within 15 seconds, take guard and be prepared to commence his or her innings by the time the clock has ticked over to 2 minutes. Also the equipment is the batter’s responsibility and there is no umpire’s discretion in place for it.
What happened later?
Mathews would nearly end up picking Shakib’s wicket for 7 but the batsman was dropped at short cover by Charith Asalanka.
Mathews would dismiss Shakib later in the innings in a similar manner but by then the Bangladesh captain would have scored a match-winning 82 off 65 balls.
Having dismissed him though, Mathews would end up giving Shakib a sendoff by pointing to his watch, implying his time is up.
In the conversation that the two captains has at the end of the encounter, this is what they had to say.
Sri Lankan skipper Kusal Mendis noted:
“It’s very disappointing. When Mathews came to bat he had 5 seconds left. Then he found the strap of his helmet came off. It’s disappointing that the umpires couldn’t step in and make the correct decision.”
Shakib did not have any issues with the dismissal. He said:
“One of my fielder told, if I appeal now, Mathews will be out – then I told the umpire and he asked me whether you want to appeal – if it’s out then I want it. I don’t know whether it’s right or wrong but if it is within the law then we will take it.”
In the press conference that followed at the end of the match, it was Angelo Mathews who fronted the media and was quite scathing about his assessment of the incident.
Mathews called it disgraceful and said he had lost all his respect for Shakib al Hasan and Bangladesh. He also said the reason why the Sri Lankan players had refused to shake hands with their Bangladeshi counterparts after the game was because their opponents had refused to respect them.
Later he would send out a stream of tweets saying he was ready to take strike within the stipulated two-minute time-frame.
I rest my case! Here you go you decide 😷😷 pic.twitter.com/AUT0FGffqV
— Angelo Mathews (@Angelo69Mathews) November 7, 2023
He also tweeted another screen-shot of the time at which the previous batter had been dismissed and the time at which he was ready to take strike just before his helmet strap broke.
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Has Timed Out ever happened in cricket before the Mathews incident?
The Mathews incident was the first of its kind at the international level, i.e. no other batter has ever been dismissed Timed Out in more than 140 years of international cricket that includes Tests, ODIs and T20Is.
There have been other times when Timed Out could have been inflicted on a batter but greater sense prevailed when the fielding captain opted not to exercise that option.
The most glaring of those examples came in the 2006 Cape Town Test when India were two wickets down in double-quick time.
Sachin Tendulkar was to bat at number four but since he had been out of field for 18 minutes during India’s fielding, he couldn’t walk out to bat which meant the Indian number five VVS Laxman needed to come out to bat.
Laxman wasn’t ready to bat, having rushed in to the shower, forcing the number six Sourav Ganguly to scramble to find his equipment and be ready to face the next ball.
It took him six minutes to make it through to the crease, but South Africa captain Graeme Smith opted not to exercise that Timed Out option.
On the other hand there have been six previous cases of players getting Timed Out in first-class cricket.
These include the following:
- Andrew Jordaan in a game in South Africa between Eastern Province and Transvaal in 1987-88. Jordaan couldn’t resume his innings the next day because he failed to reach the ground because of flooded roads.
- Hemulal Yadav in a Ranji Trophy match between Tripura and Orisaa in 1997-98 when he failed to walk to the crease as he ended up chatting with his team manager after the previous wicket had fallen.
- Vasbert Drakes in a game in South Africa between Border and Free State who was on his way to the country having taken a flight from West Indies. He failed to reach the game in time and was Timed Out.
- Andrew James Harris in a county match between Nottinghamshire and Durham UCCE in 2003 with the batter failing to reach the crease on time because of a groin injury. This could have happened again in an international but for an injured Nathan Lyon’s presence of mind who stationed himself close to the fence to reach the crease in time during an Ashes match in 2023 against England.
- Ryan Austin in a match in the West Indies between Combined Campuses and Colleges and Windward Islands in 2013–14.
- Charles Kunje in a match in Zimbabwe between Matabeleland Tuskers and Mountaineers at Bulawayo in 2017-18.
Photo Credit: Pierre Bamin on Unsplash