7 Instances when batter was timed out in cricket

Timed out is one of ten modes of dismissals in cricket. The Laws of Cricket mention this dismissal in Law 40 and Section 40.1.1 of the law states that “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 to be ready to receive the next ball within 3 minutes of the dismissal or retirement. If this requirement is not met, the incoming batter will be out, Timed out.”

International Cricket Council (ICC) also used to follow the same analogy in Tests but has changed the playing conditions from October 1, 2022. Now, the incoming batter would be required to be ready to take strike within two minutes in the longest format of the game. On the other hand, the threshold of 90 seconds in ODIs and T20Is has remained unchanged.

Timed out is among the rarest of dismissals in the game and has never occurred in international cricket. However, the uncommon dismissal has happened on a few occasions in first-class cricket.

Let us look at the instances when the batter has been timed out

7. Andrew Jordaan – Eastern Province v Transvaal at Port Elizabeth in 1988

During the Howa Bowl game between Eastern Province and Transvaal in February 1988, Transvaal won the toss and elected to field. However, most of the play on Day 1 was washed out and Andrew Jordaan who was one of the opening batters for Eastern Province, was 0 not out at the end of the close of play.

Jordan was expected to resume his innings the next day. However, due to heavy rain overnight, the road conditions were quite miserable and the opening batter could not reach the ground on time and was timed out. With this, he became the first-ever cricketer to be dismissed timed out.

Eastern Province were bowled out for 132 and Transvaal in response scored 152. Jordan got to bat in the second innings scoring 21 runs with his side posting 163. The game ended in a draw with Transvaal at 66 for 6 chasing the target of 144.