"I thought of saying, 'Enough is enough, we don't stand for this'" - Bangladesh bowling coach Allan Donald unhappy with Shakib-Mathews time-out saga
Bangladesh bowling coach Allan Donald didn't agree with his captain Shakib Al Hasan's appeal for a 'timed out' against Sri Lanka's Angelo Mathews in the 2023 World Cup match in Delhi on Monday.
Mathews was allegedly not ready to face his first ball in the stipulated time of two minutes after the fall of the fourth wicket. He took a bit of time to come to the crease and after arriving at the crease, the strap of his helmet broke, which resulted in the delay. Shakib then appealed for timed out and umpire Marais Erasmus upheld it.
A war of words ensued after the match. Shakib said he looked at the match as a battle and wanted to do all he could for his team. Meanwhile, Mathews called it "absolutely disgraceful".
In an interview after the game, Donald said that he thought of going onto the field and putting an end to all the drama.
"The most sensible thing would have been to just say, 'Okay, no worries, mate, sort your helmet out quickly; you have time to replace it'," the former South African pacer told CricBlog.Net.
Donald added:
"My immediate reaction when that happened - and this is just [that] my instincts would have taken over - is I almost actually thought of going on that field and saying, 'enough is enough, we don't stand for this; we are not that kind of team who stand for this'. That was my immediate thought."
Although Donald understands Shakib's stance, he feels it was "very difficult to see" one of Sri Lanka's all-time greats walk out without facing a ball. He also thought it went against the undefined 'spirit' of the game.
"There was no eye contact at all, no conversations, nothing" - Allan Donald
Donald added that it took him some time to digest what was unfolding before his eyes, especially when the teams refused to shake hands after the match. According to Mathews, they didn't want to do the handshake because they felt their opposition didn't respect them.
"Last night I sat in bed and I just thought, 'What just took place there?'" Donald said. "For me, the question I asked was: 'What just happened there?' I even sat in the change room and I was dead quiet," Donald said. "We didn't shake hands, and you walk on the field, and I knew what was going to come after Sri Lanka had fielded… it was just going to be a very, very blank reception and that it certainly was."
The former fast bowler added:
"There was anger. The only word you can use, really, is anger. At the end of the day then, like I normally do, I'm almost out there in the park first shaking hands and I just knew that these guys were heading for one place and that's the dressing room. There was no eye contact at all, no conversations, nothing. I don't know, a lot of these cricketers today can call me old-fashioned but I just don't think there is any place for it. I just don't think so."
Mathews gave Shakib a send-off after dismissing him in the second innings, but Bangladesh held their nerve to win the match by three wickets.