Donald opposes Shakib’s ‘Timed Out’ appeal against Mathews
Allan Donald
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Allan Donald, the pace bowling coach for Bangladesh, stated that it was tough to witness Angelo Mathews' removal after he was "Timed out" in Delhi and that his natural reaction was to walk out on the field and prevent his captain Shakib Al Hasan from pursuing his appeal.
Mathews became the first player in the 146-year history of international cricket to suffer the dismissal when he exceeded the two-minute limit to take strike when he arrived at the crease to bat.
The 36-year-old pleaded that the strap on his helmet wasn't secure and, as a result, wasn't ready to face his first ball.
Shakib refused to back down even when the umpires asked him to since Mathews' equipment had malfunctioned.
The incident overshadowed the outcome, forcing a shocked Mathews to leave without facing the ball. Bangladesh comfortably chased down 280 with 53 balls to spare.
Donald, who has been Bangladesh’s bowling coach since last year, expressed his displeasure at the manner of the dismissal, saying that the ‘Timed out’ has no place in the world of cricket.
“What just happened there? In the change room, I was dead quiet. We shook hands [after the match], well, we didn’t shake hands and I knew what was going to come after Sri Lanka had fielded, it was going to be a very, very blank reception. My immediate reaction when that happened, and this is just my instincts would have taken over, was that I almost actually thought of going on the field and saying, ‘Enough’s enough, we do not stand for this. We are not that kind of team who stand for this.’ That was my immediate thought,” Donald expressed his views exclusively to CricBlog.
“Things happened so quickly, and I’m not the head coach, I’m not in charge. I just saw Marais Erasmus say, ‘Angelo, you can now depart the ground,’ and seeing Angelo picking his helmet up and throwing it against the advertising boards, I was surprised. You talk about the respect and the dignity for each other and for the game and the spirit of the game and I just don’t want to see things like that. That’s just me.
PHOTO: Angelo Mathews was the first batter to be timed out in internationals
"Okay, someone was sharp out there and said, Well, you could appeal, and this cannot be happening. But we saw it and my instincts would have immediately told me to go out there and say, ‘Hey, that’s not gonna happen.’ It really overshadowed a great win, not really, it absolutely overshadowed everything because there was a lot of niggle out there, when Sri Lanka started bowling.”
Donald said there was no eye contact at all, no conversations, nothing and such acts do not have a place in cricket.
“There was anger and at the end of the day, like I normally do, I’m out there on the park, shaking hands, and I knew these guys were heading to one place and that’s the dressing room. There was no eye contact at all, no conversations, nothing. I don’t know, a lot of these players can call me old-fashioned but I don’t think there’s got any place for it. I just don’t think so,
“The most sensible thing would have been just to say, no worries mate, sort your helmet out quickly. You have time to replace it and I take an incident about Shoriful Islam, where he came out in the wrong shoes against Ireland in a Test match. He got green boots on with his whites and it took him time to take those boots off, well over time and nothing was said. Nothing.
“For me, it was disappointing to see, and I can understand Shakib taking his chances, and his words were ‘I was doing everything to win’ and you can sense in my voice that I don’t like it. It was difficult to watch that unfold.” he concluded.
