Sri Lanka’s Angelo Mathews has earned the dubious distinction of being the first player in international cricket to be ‘timed out’.

The controversial incident came in Monday’s World Cup match against Bangladesh at the Arun Jaitley Stadium. Sri Lanka, 4-135 at the time, was dismissed for 279.

Former Sri Lanka captain Mathews walked in after the fall of Sadeera Samarawickrama in the 25th over of the Sri Lankan innings but found the chinstrap of his helmet broken before he could take guard against bowler Shakib Al Hasan.

Mathews removed his helmet and gestured to the dressing room asking for a replacement helmet as the clock ticked by.

Tweet from @ICC

Under the tournament’s playing conditions, a new batter should be ready to face the ball within two minutes but Mathews was seen still waiting for teammate Chamika Karunaratne to run in with a new helmet.

Shakib was seen chatting with umpire Marais Erasmus before making an appeal and the batter was adjudged timed out.

Mathews remonstrated with the umpires for a while before leaving the pitch shaking his head in dismay and threw his helmet soon after crossing the boundary.

“My point is that Mathews’ dismissal was not good for the spirit of cricket,” Sri Lanka’s Charith Asalanka, who smashed a century in the match, told the broadcasters.

Former Bangladesh captain Athar Ali Khan echoed the same view while commentating on the match.

“I don’t like what I’m seeing. It is not good for the game. It’s against the spirit of the game. That’s how I feel about it.

“If something goes wrong with the helmet you should be allowed an extra couple of minutes to fix it.”

Former Pakistan captain Ramiz Raja said it was the batter’s duty to be ready within the stipulated time.

“To a certain degree it is an onus on cricketers to learn the rules and understand the spirit of the rules,” Raja said.

“Most of us don’t, but the umpires were on top of the situation. It was a tough call to make.”

There have been at least half a dozen such cases in first-class cricket, the most recent in 2017, but they have include cases such as a batter being unable to be at the ground due to flight delays or flooded roads.

-Reuters