An Africa Cup T20I clash between Ghana and Sierra Leone today (December 18) witnessed both an obstructing the field and a timed out dismissal, and each involved the same two cricketers on either side.
The first incident came in Sierra Leone’s batting innings, with Abbas Gibla the batter given out obstructing the field. He defended the right-arm seam of Godfred Bakwenyam back down the pitch and attempted to run a single, but was in danger of being run out by the bowler. Having initially run off the pitch, his run curved back towards the ball, with his leg making contact as the bowler bent to pick up, averting a run out. Bakwenyam wrung his hand in pain in the aftermath.
Ghana appealed, and after a consultation, the umpires sent Gibla on his way.
In the second innings, Bakwenyam was out in unusual fashion, following the dismissal of Ghana captain Samson Awiah, bowled by a sharp yorker. More than two minutes elapsed between the fall of the wicket and Bakwenyam being ready to face, and just as Gibla was about to finish his over, an appeal could be heard. The umpire raised his finger, and Bakwenyam was sent on his way.
It is not clear what the cause of the delay was, though the score ticker on the live stream initially showed that the over had been completed before correctly displaying that there was one ball left. Before Bakwenyam’s entry, a Sierra Leonean fielder can be seen running up to the umpire, who then looks at his watch. After Bakwenyam was given out, a fielder can be seen tapping his wrist. Bakwenyam then had a discussion with the square leg umpire, but was sent on his way.
The game was a tense one, with Ghana chasing 112 to win with two balls and two wickets to spare. Sierra Leone’s defeat meant that they missed out on the semi-finals, with Botswana instead taking on Uganda. The latter recently qualified for next year’s T20 World Cup, but haven’t had everything their own way in this competition, defeated by Rwanda by two runs in their opening game. They thrashed Botswana by 10 wickets to set up a final against Kenya.
Both obstructing the field and timed out dismissals have come to prominence recently. In the 2023 World Cup, Angelo Mathews became the first batter in international cricket history to be given timed out in Sri Lanka’s game against Bangladesh. Bangladesh’s Mushfiqur Rahim then became the first Test batter to be given out obstructing the field for more than 70 years after deflecting the ball away from his stumps with his hand in a game against New Zealand.
This instance marks the first timed out dismissal in T20Is. It is also believed to be the first instance of a timed out dismissal and an obstructing the field dismissal both occurring in any top-level game.
