Bangladesh’ bowling coach Allan Donald shares his perspective about Angelo Mathews’ controversial dismissal

There was a strange occurrence during the 2023 ODI World Cup match between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka that had never happened in the history of international cricket. Veteran Sri Lankan all-rounder Angelo Mathews created history by being the first player to ever be “timed out.” 

The incident happened on Monday, November 6 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi during the 25th over of the first innings. It took Mathews longer than expected to take the pitch and start the game as the new batter. Shakib Al Hasan, the captain of Bangladesh, requested Mathews’ wicket during this delay, which prompted the on-field umpires to raise their index fingers and deem Mathews timed out.

The entire Bangladesh team started getting tolled on social media for this unsportsmanship behaviour. Meanwhile, Bangladesh’s bowling coach and former South Africa legend Allan Donal recently talked about the matter and said that they don’t stand for this.

“The best approach would’ve been to say, ‘No problem, fix your helmet quickly, there’s time to replace it. When that happened, my immediate response guided by instincts was almost considering stepping onto the field and declaring, ‘Enough is enough, we don’t stand for this. We are not that kind of team who stands for this.’ That was my initial thought,” Donald was quoted as saying by Cricket Today.

I just don’t believe there’s any place for it: Allan Donald

Donald further added and said that the atmosphere in the dressing room was very quiet and there was no eye contact and no conversations between the players. 

“Last night, as I sat in bed, I pondered, ‘What just took place there? The question in my mind was, ‘What just happened there?’ In the dressing room, I remained silent. After Sri Lanka had fielded, I anticipated a very blank reception on the field, and that’s precisely what occurred,” he added.

“There was anger no other way to put it. As usual, at the end of the day, I’m typically out there in the park, among the first to shake hands. But this time, I sensed these guys were heading straight to the dressing room. No eye contact, no conversations nothing. Some may call me old-fashioned, but I just don’t believe there’s any place for it. I really don’t,”