November 15 Friday 2002
West Indies threaten another walk-out if crowd misbehaves

AHMEDABAD: The West Indies would not hesitate to abandon Friday's fourth one-day international against India here if the safety of the players was at risk, team manager Ricky Skerritt said.

"Of course we want the remaining four matches in the series to be completed, but if the players are at risk, we will walk out again," Skerritt said ahead of the day-night match at the Motera stadium.

The tourists lead 2-1 in the seven-match series marred by crowd trouble in all the three games played so far in Jamshedpur, Nagpur and Rajkot. The West Indians walked off the field at Rajkot oTuesday when Vasbert Drakes and substitute fielders Ryan Hinds and Pedro Collins were targetted with sand-filled plastic bottles.

Match referee Mike Procter of South Africa abandoned play and awarded the game to India, who were cruising at 200-1 in the 28th over chasing a victory target of 301 in 50 overs. Procter's decision was based on India being ahead on run-rate at that stage as per the Duckworth-Lewis system used primarily for rain-hit matches.

Security was further tightened for Friday's match here in the main city of the sensitive western state of Gujarat where some 1,000 people were killed in communal violence earlier this year. Procter held a meeting with senior police and cricket officers on Thursday in which it was decided that every spectator entering the stadium would be frisked.

"We will not allow spectators to carry anything inside the ground that could be used as missiles to hit the players," a police officer said. "Among the 2,000 security personnel who will be on duty, many plain-clothed policemen will be seated in the stands to identify miscreants."

With tensions running high in Gujarat ahead of next month's state elections, officials are leaving nothing to chance. Though Rajkot is only a two-hour bus drive away from Ahmedabad, both teams were transported by air to Bombay on Tuesday evening and flew in to Ahmedabad late on Wednesday night.

Meanwhile, Procter's unprecedented decision to declare India winners at Rajkot -- the first time a host team has been awarded a crowd-marred match -- has stirred a heated debate.

Former West Indian great Michael Holding, here as a television commentator, said such a decision would encourage crowds to create trouble when it found the hosts were ahead on run-rate. "Very shortly, spectators will be seen going into the one-day venues with computers with the Duckworth/Lewis formula in hand and constantly keeping in touch with the proceedings," Holding wrote in his column.

"Whenever their team is in front, they will just throw a few missiles, get the game called off and their team ends up the winners."

Procter defended his decision saying he did not want to penalise players for the actions of unruly crowds. "India made a fantastic start. They deserved to win. They were ahead (on run-rate)," the former South African all-rounder said.

The International Cricket Council (ICC), the sport's world governing body, as threatened to ban unruly venues from holding matches. The Ahmedabad crowds will be on trial. In a Test match here in 1987, Pakistan captain Imran Khan ordered his fielders to wear helmets after objects were hurled at them on the field. The last three internationals will be played in Baroda, also in Gujarat (Nov 18), Jodhpur in Rajasthan (Nov 21) and Vijayawada in southern Andhra Pradesh.