Security headaches hit World Cup (19 May 1999)

19 May 1999

Security headaches hit World Cup

Tony Cozier

Organisers of the seventh World Cup here are discovering what those in the West Indies have known for years-that it is next to impossible to control passionate spectators packed into small, overcrowded grounds.

India's captain Mohammed Azharuddin and two of his players, Rahul Dravid and Robin Singh, were assaulted on the field by an irate supporter after their defeat of South Africa at the Sussex county ground in the south coast town of Hove on Saturday.

The following day, the Pakistanis were caught in the middle of a pack of the onrushing throng at the end of their match against the West Indies at the Gloucestershire ground here-as were the Australians once they had completed their victory over Scotland at Worcester.

If they did not occur during play and cause the quite the chaos and confusion of those at Bourda during April's One-day International against Australia, and that in 1993 against Pakistan, they were no less worrying for that.

Here, ecstatic, flag-waving Pakistani supporters jumped the advertising boards that were the only obstacle between them and the outfield before their team had claimed the winning wicket and had to be shepherded back by tardy stewards.

Once victory was formalised, they rushed on again in their hundreds, police and private security powerless to stop them. As at Bourda, the stumps were snatched as souvenirs, including those carrying the expensive television mini-cameras.

As seen live on television, Azharuddin and his colleagues were distraught after their confrontation with their assailant who was wrestled to the ground by a steward and escorted off by two policemen.

It is not known whether charges were brought against him.

Australian captain Steve Waugh, at the centre of the invasion of Bourda and the bottle-throwing at Kensington Oval last month, repeated the pleas he made then for increased security.

"I was jostled coming off and players should not have to put up with that," he said. "There's the danger of someone getting hurt. Anything can happen if the fans have had a few drinks."

Waugh said the matter of security was raised by the captains at a pre-tournament meeting with the organisers.

"We were promised more security but there didn't seem to be any," he added.

In an effort to spread the World Cup as far as possible, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) scheduled first-round matches in every first-class county as well as in Edinburgh, Scotland, Dublin, Ireland, and even Amsterdam in Holland.

Only the established Test venues-Lord's, the Oval, Headlingley, Leeds, Trent Bridge and Old Trafford-will be used for the later rounds.

None of these county venues is properly equipped to host large crowds for attractive international matches like those between India and South Africa and Pakistan and the West Indies. Nor have they got the facilities for accommodating the large press corps covering the Cup.

Both Hove and Bristol were sold out weeks before the tournament. Apartments overlooking the Hove ground reportedly sold space at as much as L100 per person.

Small press boxes, designed for no more than 20 or 30 reporting on County matches, are obviously inadequate for a tournament of this magnitude.

Accredited and experienced journalists have found themselves without telephones or space for their laptop computers, and have been shunted off to chairs in roped off areas among the crowd.

There are several other matches to follow at grounds of similar limitations. With large immigrant populations from the Asian sub-continent and the West Indies in Britain, not to consider the fans who have come over to follow the tournament, security services will continue to be hard-pressed. "We have asked all the counties to review their stewarding in the light of the early incidents," World Cup events manager Michael Browning said.

No doubt, the International Cricket Council (ICC), that paid such immediate attention to the problems in the West Indies, and the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), with staging of the 2007 Cup in mind, will take heed of the happenings here.

12 teams have been divided in two groups.

Group A contains Sri Lanka, India, South Africa, England, Zimbabwe and Kenya.

Group B contains Australia, West Indies, Pakistan, New Zealand, Bangladesh and Scotland.

The top three teams in each group progress to the Super Six second phase.

Teams will take forward points scored against other qualifying teams from their group.

Each qualifying team from group A will now play three qualifiers from group B. Top four teams at end of Super Six will play in knock-out semifinals where team ranked first will play team ranked fourth. Winners of semifinals will play in final.

Innings are 50 overs. Minimum of 25 overs per innings will constitute a match. In case of bad weather, matches can continue until 2000 local (1900 GMT).

Each match will have one reserve day in case of bad weather. Final will have two reserve days. For first 15 overs of each innings only two fielders are allowed outside semicircles drawn 30 metres from each set of stumps.

For the remaining overs only five fielders are allowed outside the semicircles.

Also in the first 15 overs of each innings, there must be at least two fielders within a 15-metre inner circle centred on the batsman on strike.

The two fielders may only stand deeper than 15 metres if they are at slip, leg slip and gully. At no time must there be more than five fielders on the leg side.

No bowler may bowl more than 10 overs per innings.

A bowler will be no-balled if ball passes or would have passed above the shoulder height of the batsman on strike.

Umpires have been instructed "to apply a very strict and consistent interpretation" of the laws governing negative bowling.

White balls and black sightscreens will be used.

If teams finish on equal points in group matches, entry into the Super Six phase will be decided on the following criteria (in order of priority):

In Super Six phase, if teams finish equal on points, entry into the semifinals will be decided on the following criteria (in order of priority):

If semifinal is tied or there is no result, the team that finished higher in the Super Six phase will proceed to the final.

If final is tied or there is no result over three days, the World Cup will be shared.

(Total US$1 million): Winner-US$300,000, runner-up-US$150,000, losing semifinalists US$100,000.

Group match winners-US$6,000 each, losers-US$3,000 each.

Source :: The Trinidad Express