Watch: Angelo Mathews becomes first batter to be given timed out in history of international cricket

Watch: During a World Cup match at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi, Angelo Mathews became the first batter to be ruled timed out in an international match.

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Asked to bat, Sri Lanka were 135-4 in 24.2 overs when Shakib Al Hasan snared Sadeera Samarawickrama. That was at 3.49 PM local time. A minute later, at 3.50 PM, Angelo Mathews walked out to join Charith Asalanka.

As Mathews walked out and took guard, he realised that his helmet strap was broken. and a substitute fielder duly ran out with a replacement.

As the clock ticked by, Shakib appealed to umpire Marais Erasmus under ICC Men’s World Cup Playing Condition 40.1: “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 2 minutes of the dismissal or retirement. If this requirement is not met, the incoming batter will be out, Timed out.”

Mathews had arrived at the crease, but he had not been “ready to receive the ball”. Erasmus seemed to discuss the appeal with Shakib, but the captain went through with it.

At 3.54 PM, a visibly unhappy Mathews walked back, having just become the first cricketer to be ruled timed out in international cricket as well as in all List A cricket (or any recorded professional limited-overs cricket). On his way out, he tossed the errant helmet on the ground, outside the boundary rope.

There are numerous examples of batters putting themselves at risk of being ruled timed out. Perhaps the most famous of these was David Steele of England, who had lost his way and found himself in front of the Lord’s toilet while walking out to bat for the first time in Test cricket. At Cape Town in 2006/07, Sourav Ganguly had almost been given out as well. However, the fielding sides had not appealed in these instances.

Six batters, however, been ruled timed out in first-class cricket – Andrew Jordaan, Hemulal Yadav, Vasbert Drakes, Andrew Harris, Ryan Austin, and Charles Kunje. Of them, Drakes was famously in another continent when he was given out in East London.