Zimbabwe and West Indies embroiled in 'Mankad row' at U19 Cricket World Cup

A row has erupted between West Indies and Zimbabwe at the U-19 Cricket World Cup in Bangladesh after the African side were eliminated from the tournament by virtue of a contentious 'Mankad' incident.

The problem occurred when West Indies bowler Keemo Paul effected a run-out of Richard Ngarava as he was set to enter his delivery stride with three runs needed and one wicket remaining in the final over of the match.

Paul broke the stumps before delivering the ball, catching the non-striker Ngarava with his bat on the line, which, technically, is out. The two on-field umpires asked the West Indies if they wanted to uphold their appeal and once they confirmed they did, the third umpire was called into action. Ngarava – who was stood a couple of paces outside his crease when the 'Mankad' occurred – was found to have his bat fractionally out of his ground and victory was awarded to the West Indies.

The term 'Mankad' comes from Indian bowler Vinoo Mankad, who ran out Australian batsman Bill Brown in this fashion in a Test match in 1947. The most recent 'Mankading' was in 2014 when England batsman Jos Buttler was dismissed by Sri Lankan bowler Sachithra Senanayake in 2014 in England. Buttler was one of the first cricketers to comment on this incident, which he called "embarrassing", a word also used by England's ODI captain Eoin Morgan in a tweet. England fast bowler Jimmy Anderson called it "disgraceful".

West Indies captain Shimron Hetmyer insisted after the game that he was comfortable with the decision to appeal for the wicket. "I would say yes, cricket is a game of uncertainties, we've seen it happen in cricket before, it's not a big deal for us," he said, according to ESPNcricinfo. But asked if he thought the incident was in the spirit of the game, he admitted: "Probably not."

Meanwhile, Zimbabwe manager Admire Marodzan revealed the team were deeply upset by the controversial run-out. But he said there was nothing he could do. "It is too early to comment but we are trying to get emotions under control in the dressing-room. Everyone is disappointed at the loss," Marodza explained.

"Rules are rules. We can't change them and we can't change what happened. A run-out is a run-out. I don't think it is anything to protest about. We are not happy about losing the game from such a good position. The way our boys competed, it is an achievement. We are happy how we played in this tournament."