“I still had 5 more seconds even after the helmet gave away” - Angelo Mathews vehemently defends himself after controversial timed-out dismissal
Veteran Sri Lankan all-rounder Angelo Mathews questioned his controversial timed-out dismissal in the 2023 World Cup match against Bangladesh on Monday by replying to some social media posts related to the topic.
After the ICC shared a post on Mathews and Shakib Al Hasan reacting to the timed-out dismissal, the Sri Lankan cricketer replied and claimed that the fourth umpire was wrong. He even shared pictures with timings to try and prove his case.
The former Sri Lankan captain took more than two minutes to face his first ball due to some helmet issues. During the delay, Bangladesh skipper Shakib appealed for a timed-out dismissal, which was upheld by the on-field umpire. According to ICC 2023 World Cup playing conditions, the time limit for the batter is two minutes.
Following the conclusion of the match in Delhi, in which Sri Lanka lost by three wickets and thus got knocked out of the World Cup, Mathews took to X [formerly Twitter] to defend his case.
Replying to a post from ICC, he deemed the fourth umpire wrong and commented:
“4th umpire is wrong here! Video evidence shows I still had 5 more seconds even after the helmet gave away! Can the 4th umpire rectify this please? I mean safety is paramount as I just couldn’t face the bowler without a helmet.”
To further press his case, Mathews shared two images with timings - the first of Sadeera Samarawickrama’s catch and the second of the moment when his helmet strap came off.
“Proof! From the time catch was taken and the time helmet strap coming off,” he captioned the images.
The 36-year-old also replied to former Sri Lankan batter Russel Arnold’s post, which mentioned that players “have to be ready to take strike in 2 minutes as per ICC playing conditions”.
“Yes was ready before that 2 mins! Can’t face the bowler without the helmet no?” Mathews responded.
The cricketer also replied to another post by a Lankan journalist, who pointed out that Mathews was the captain when Jos Buttler was run out for backing up too far and that the then-Lankan skipper did not withdraw his appeal.
The all-rounder again defended himself and wrote:
“This was done after two warnings ! And even after the warnings it kept happening and clearly they were taking advantage of it!.”
After being given timed out, Mathews pleaded his case with the umpire and also had a chat with Bangladesh skipper Shakib before walking off in disgust.
“Disgraceful from Shakib and Bangladesh” - Mathews
Mathews became the first player to be timed out in international cricket during the 25th over of the Sri Lankan innings.
At the post-match press conference, he lashed out at Shakib and said:
“I have two minutes to get to the crease and get myself ready, which I did. And then it was an equipment malfunction. And I don't know where the common sense went, because obviously it's disgraceful from Shakib and Bangladesh. If they want to play cricket like that, I think there's something wrong drastically. I still had five more seconds to go after my helmet broke off.”
However, in an on-field interview during the innings break, the fourth umpire, Adrian Holdstock, stated that Mathews had exceeded the time limit before the helmet strap came off.