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The on-field umpires who declared Angelo Mathews timed
out on Monday, according to Mathews, acknowledged to the Sri Lankan coaching
staff that they had made a mistake by failing to verify the amount of time that
had passed between Mathews’ helmet strap breaking and his prior expulsion.
Mathews seems to have learned about this admission from a rumour.
“The umpires [Marais Erasmus and Richard
Illingworth] also admitted that it was an equipment malfunction and they could
have gone upstairs and checked,” In his press conference following the
game, Mathews stated. Speaking to media following the match, Sri Lankan coach
Chris Silverwood added that the team’s coaching staff had discussed the
ejection with match officials and that talks between the two parties continued.
In any case, Mathews was defining the boundary between
what qualified as a legitimate “timed out” dismissal and time that
was taken out of the game to replace malfunctioning equipment.
The current playing circumstances, however, merely
require that the replacement hitter be prepared to receive the ball within two
minutes of the previous dismissal, which, by a strict interpretation of the
regulation, Mathews was not. They also do not allow for equipment malfunction.
But umpires often let equipment changes mid-over if
necessary, especially for bats and helmets. There probably wouldn’t have been
any problems with Mathews calling for a substitute and taking his time to
select one if the strap had broken one ball into his innings, for example.
“We talk about safety of the players, and you
guys tell me if it’s right for me to take my guard without my helmet on,”
Mathews said. “That’s where the umpires could have done a bigger job at
the time because they could have gone back and checked. A wicketkeeper for a
spinner they don’t let keep without his helmet. So how can I take my guard
without my helmet? It’s completely an equipment malfunction.
“What’s the point not checking at that time and
then checking it afterwards?” Mathews continued. “You need to have
your common sense in terms of using technology. It was clearly malfunction – it
[the strap] just came off. I didn’t need to pull it and break it.”