Bourda and Kensington
Ian on Sunday
The Bourda crowd invasion was bad enough, but the Kensington missile attack was more serious. The Bourda behaviour though shameful and unacceptable was basically exuberant and spontaneous while the Kensington behaviour was deliberately intimidatory and angrily prolonged. Moreover, the Bourda behaviour ended in severely penalising the home team while the Kensington behaviour ended in rewarding the home team thereby sending a potentially catastrophic message to cricketing crowds around the world. It is true the Australians often play the game on the far side of fairness. But even so. It is true that many of the Australians are pretty unsavoury specimens of sportsmen - Steve Waugh dismissing Brian Lara by "catching" a bounce ball; the egregious Healey breaking the stumps without the ball for a claimed dismissal; the infamous sledging of Robert Samuels; McGrath spitting down the pitch; Shane Warne getting away with his ridiculous, incessant, prolonged and intimidatory appealing. But even so. It is understandable that a fervent and patriotic crowd, collectively remembering such Australian conduct, should get riled and touchy. But even so. It is true that Brendan Julian set an illegal screen on Sherwin Campbell and that the umpire made a bad decision in ruling Campbell out. But even so. There can be absolutely no defensible reason for the Kensington crowd's behaviour which unforgivably included potentially lethal, and even precisely targeted, bottle throwing. And just as indefensible was the extraordinary decision to continue the match with a not out Campbell which enabled the home team to win and the home crowd's hero to be crowned man of the match and man of the series. This was a ruling made completely outside the laws of cricket, a ruling which diminished the standing of umpires everywhere, a ruling which sent the clearest of messages to crowds anywhere and everywhere that unruly behaviour pays off and the result of a game can be influenced by crude bullying. Make no mistake about it, the crowd onslaughts on the fields of play at both Bourda and Kensington were traumatic events which are likely to cause lasting damage to West Indian cricket prospects unless prompt, decisive, comprehensive and believable official action is taken to put an end to such grossly disorderly episodes in future. In particular grave doubts will be expressed about the West Indies staging the World Cup in 2007. These will have to be robustly resisted by marshalling every argument at our disposal including the fact that similar disturbances in other countries have not led to the sort of penal sanctions which now appear to be contemplated for the West Indies. It is understandable that a fervent and patriotic crowd, collectively remembering such Australian conduct, should get riled and touchy. But even so However, there is a more specific threat which may have to be confronted. It is that Guyana may find itself singled out for sanctions. We will have to be extremely alert - Chetram Singh and Bish Panday be warned - in resisting any move or campaign to remove Guyana from the roster of international cricket matches. Ramon Subba Row has suggested that Guyana should not be allowed to stage international matches in future. I am not at all sure he has made the same categoric statement in regard to Barbados. What is even more worrying is that a Mr. Michael Hogan, described (though I can hardly believe it) as a spokesman of the Australian Cricket Board, has made the following extraordinary statement: "We will not be going to Guyana again unless things change. Barbados is not quite the same situation as the Bajans are very enthusiastic and easygoing cricket lovers". This is astonishing nonsense which should be rejected sharply. In fact, the Guyana Cricket Board, once it has established that such a statement was actually made, should require an apology since the implication is that Guyanese spectators are a sullen and dangerous bunch against whom specific discrimination would be justified. The absolute bottom line is that Bourda, by far the oldest cricket venue in the West Indies and one of the famous cricket grounds of the world, must not, I repeat absolutely must not, be frozen out of its fair share of big cricket occasions - Test matches as well as one-day Internationals - in future. The Georgetown Cricket Club will be celebrating its 150th anniversary in a few years. Let there be no diminution of that great Club's stature in these intervening years.
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