Thursday 22 April 1999
Mayhem in Guyana ruined a thrilling spectacle
After watching last night's thrilling one-day international in Guyana, I
was interested to hear 'Tugga's' comments about the danger of such a
crowd invasion. He described his dismay and disbelief that he and Warney
had been subjected to a situation which he obviously felt was
uncomfortable and potentially very dangerous.
When I read his comments this morning I could almost hear some people
saying: "Oh yeah, as if something like that could happen on a cricket
field." Well maybe this is a fair assumption but in this day and age you
just never know. I mean, taking it to the limit, who ever would have
thought two teenage boys could walk into a high school and play Rambo at
the expense of human lives?
All it would take, as Tugga expressed, would be one drunken idiot, with
a dislike for Australian cricket captains or leg-spin bowlers, to take
an easy shot at a sitting target. Understandably, no international
sportsman should expect to be placed in this situation while
representing their country, so in my view Steve's comments were totally
justified. While the West Indies may be 'rucking' about having the game
judged as a draw, I feel the Aussies are the one's who should be feeling
angry with the situation.
During the Test series the security was at times pretty slack. Although
the West Indian people put it down to "just being laid back", there
should be a heavy responsibility on the hosts of a Test-playing nation.
In the washup, the good guys could be breathing a sigh of relief at
ending up with one point, but in the big picture, everyone should be
relieved that the price was only a disputed referee's decision. Guys
like Steve Waugh and Shane Warne are not only great cricketers, they are
also great family men and great Australian ambassadors who should never
have to take any physical risks in the pursuit of providing their
fantastic entertainment.
Luckily, we didn't see a repeat of the Monica Seles affair and an
awesome game of cricket was played. One of my young Middlesex team-mates
asked me about Tugga's approach in the last over. My only reply was that
there is little word in international cricket that can affect the normal
running of a game, it is called "pressure". Although on face value it
may have seemed to my young friend's eyes that four singles may have
been enough, I reminded him that it is always easier watching the game
from the grandstand, or with a cup of tea in your hand, from your living
room.
Thirty overs (due to the rain) may well be a game of the future if
yesterday was anything to go by in entertainment value and the series is
now at boiling point with two games to go.
From London, JL
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