Subba Row calling for venue ban (23 April 1999)

23 April 1999

Subba Row calling for venue ban

Barrie Fairall

In the aftermath of crowd trouble in Guyana, match referee Raman Subba Row is to make an official complaint to the International Cricket Council and the West Indies Cricket Board over security arrangements at the Bourda ground in Georgetown and is calling for the venue to lose the right to host matches.

Subba Row, the former England Test player, was reacting to a violent pitch invasion which brought a confused end to the fifth one-day international between West Indies and Australia on Wednesday.

"The police really were desperately disappointing which must, I think, prejudice the future of cricket being played here again," Subba Row said. "You can't have that sort of risk with players. It's sad for Georgetown, being such a historic venue, and also for West Indies cricket."

In his position as match referee, Subba Row ruled the match a tie after thousands stormed on to the ground as Australian batsmen Steve Waugh and Shane Warne tried to complete a run which would have levelled the scores.

In the ensuing melee, Waugh, the Australian captain, suffered a whiplash injury as he struggled to escape from the field.

Waugh said: "It makes you wonder if the game is really worth playing in that situation. I genuinely feared for my safety and so did Shane and all the West Indian players."

Six years ago, on the same Bourda ground, Subba Row declared a tie in similar circumstances when the West Indies seemed to have beaten Pakistan.

On that occasion, Ian Bishop completed the winning second run off the last ball but Subba Row ruled the Pakistanis had been impeded by the marauding spectators.

The seven-match one-day series remains level at 2-2 with the final two matches to be played in Barbados tomorrow and on Sunday.

Source :: Electronic Telegraph (https://www.telegraph.co.uk)