Why was Angelo Mathews "timed out"?

There are plenty of unusual dismissal modes in cricket. Obstructing the field, handling the ball, hit-wicket, and hitting the ball twice are some of those. The strangest of all happened for the first time in 146 years of international cricket on 6th November 2023. 

Angelo Mathews was dismissed "Timed Out" against Bangladesh in Match 38 of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 in Delhi, which made him the first batter to suffer this dire state in international cricket. 

The uproar was caused when Sadeera Samarawickrama was dismissed in the 25th over (24.2) by Shakib Al Hasan. Mathews came out to bat at number six and was almost ready to take his guard, but the strap of his helmet came off while adjusting. Instead of asking for a new helmet, Mathews tried to fix his old helmet. When they got the spare helmet, Shakib Al Hasan, the bowler and the captain, appealed, and the on-field umpires ruled in favor of the Bangladeshis.

What does the rule say?

While the "spirit of cricket" argument holds, what does the law say? According to the law, Shakib's appeal was valid. 

According to law 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 (his partner in case of strike change) to be prepared to receive the next ball within three minutes of the dismissal or retirement. If this requirement is not met, only the incoming batter will be out, Timed out.

Mathews was in the field of play. However, he had to be ready to face his first ball or should have faced his first delivery within three minutes. In this case, that did not happen. The on-field umpires, Marais Erasmus (SA) & Richard Illingworth (ENG), felt the batter wasn't ready when Shakib appealed. 

Further, law 40.1.2 says: 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 three minutes referred to above.

Law 40.2 further adds: The bowler does not get credit - hence, the wicket doesn't belong to Shakib. 

Additionally, the ICC playing conditions for the Cricket World Cup 2023 stated that the time is two minutes under law 40.1.1.

Ian Bishop, one of the commentators for the game, mentioned on air that "umpires approached Shakib twice (to withdraw)... as he initiated the appeal but he said "no" on both occasions." 

As quoted by BBC, while speaking with the fourth umpire, Adrian Holdstock, in the mid-innings, said, "The ICC World Cup playing conditions supersede MCC Laws of Cricket.

"When it comes to timed-out, the incoming batter has to be in position to receive the ball within two minutes. The TV umpire monitors the two minutes, and he will then relay the message to the standing umpire. In this instance, the batter wasn't ready within those two minutes, even before the strap became an issue for him. The two minutes had already elapsed."

He further added, "As a batter, he needs to make sure all his equipment is in place. He has to be ready to receive the ball in two minutes, not just take his guard. So technically, he needs to be in place after around 15 seconds to get ready to receive the ball."

The closest this happened in Test cricket was during the third Test between India and South Africa in 2007 in Centurion. India quickly lost their opening batters at the start of their second innings, and Sachin Tendulkar was the designated number four. As he had been replaced as a fielder for 18 minutes at the end of South Africa's first innings, he was ineligible to bat in India's second innings until another 18 minutes had expired from its commencement. After six minutes, Sourav Ganguly came in as number four. South African captain Graeme Smith did not appeal for a "timed out" dismissal of the incoming batter.

While this is the first international occurrence, there have been six other instances in first-class cricket.

List of batters to be Timed-out in cricket - Before Mathews

Andrew Jordan (Eastern Province) against Transvaal in 1988

Hemulal Yadav (Tripura) against Odisha (Orrisa then) in 1997

Vasbert Drakes (Border) against Free State in 2002

Andre Harris (Nottinghamshire) against Durham in 2003

Ryan Austin (Combined Campus & Colleges) against the Windward Islands in 2014

Charles Kunje (Matabeleland) against Mountaineers in 2017.