Campbell's protest sparks nightmare for West Indies (27 April 1999)

27 April 1999

Campbell's protest sparks nightmare for West Indies

Tony Becca

THE past few days have been a nightmare for West Indies cricket. It has been disgraced and West Indians have been embarrassed and shamed.

First on Wednesday, during the fifth one-day international against Australia, fans in Georgetown, for no apparent reason, invaded the field - not once but twice; and on Sunday, during the seventh and final game, supporters in Bridgetown showered the field with bottles to protest at the run-out of hometown batsman Sherwin Campbell.

If Wednesday's behaviour, which led to the match being declared a tie, was a disgrace, Sunday's was worse, and it left many West Indians asking "what next?".

The incident occurred when Campbell, the non-striker, went for a run, collided with Brendon Julian, fell to the ground and was run out. According to the rules of the game, Campbell, like Michael Bevan, who suffered the same fate when he ran into Henderson Bryan during Australia's innings, was out - no question.

Julian, like Bryan, was trying to field the ball, and Campbell, like Bevan, ran into him, and while Campbell fell and Bevan did not, both batsmen failed to make their ground.

Bevan, however, accepted his fate and left the field quietly, but Campbell did not.

Campbell, who probably believed that he was deliberately blocked by Julian, sought the intervention of the umpires before he left the field, then the fans who had cheered when Bevan was dismissed erupted, throwing hundreds of bottles on to the field and forcing the players to leave.

One bottle just missed hitting Australia captain Steve Waugh in the head as he walked off.

Waugh expressed frustration with the crowd violence that had his players fearing for their lives.

"The result was irrelevant," said Waugh. "Cricket once again was a loser.

"It's just ridiculous, risking our lives again for a game of one-day cricket. If it keeps going on like that, there's no point in us playing.

"You've got to do something about it. I'm lost for words because I'm so disappointed at what's happened in the last couple of games. It makes you wonder what you're playing cricket for."

According to match referee Raman Subba Row, Australia's gesture in allowing Campbell to return was good as it allowed the game to be completed.

But was it a "good" gesture by the Australians? Maybe. The Australians, surrounded by thousands of angry fans, probably had no alternative - certainly not after they were told by the local authorities that they could not guarantee the team's safety if play did not resume.

In allowing Campbell to continue his innings, Subba Row, and the umpires, bowed to mob rule, and in doing so have set a serious precedent in West Indies cricket.

International Cricket Council chief executive David Richards condemned the behaviour of the crowd in Bridgetown and the pitch invasion in Georgetown last week which sparked an investigation by authorities in Guyana.

"These are very unsatisfactory incidents; they were very ugly indeed," said Richards. "The two events involved different behaviour but they were equally worrying. There are a number of things that we have to do. Now the West Indies' investigation must be extended to Sunday's unsatisfactory affairs.

"We have to send a strong message out to fans everywhere that you can't put players at risk, they are there to entertain and it is too much to expect for them to put up with it."

Richards called into question security measures taken at Caribbean grounds.

"The bottom line is that you can't throw bottles if you're not allowed to have them inside the ground," he said. "At most cricket grounds the world over, you are not allowed to take bottles into games."

An Australian Cricket Board spokesman, Michael Hogan, said in Melbourne yesterday: "We won't be going back to Guyana unless things change."

The secretary of the Australian Cricketers" Association, Tim May, said: "There is a legal obligation to minimise the risk of injury. The ICC can come in and say 'If you don't measure up, you don't play'."

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