More Than Meets The Eye?

The actual result doesn't matter, it is unlikely that our bowlers could have held the line anyway, but last night's debacle in India was disheartening for any West Indies cricket fan. For the third time in as many matches, crowd trouble in India has marred the game and put our players in danger. Just when we have something to cheer about something else goes wrong.

Before we get wrapped up in laying blame on Indian cricket fans and Indian authorities, let's remember that we have had our own crowd trouble here in the Caribbean. If fact, most cricketing countries from Australia to England have experienced this malady and it would be unfair to label this an Indian problem.

The thing is, last night's disruption made no sense. India were cruising to victory with a magnificent Virender Sehwag totally in command of the West Indies' bowlers when Vasbert Drakes was hit by a bottle. There is was no reason any Indian cricket fan should have been disappointed to see their team overhauling a potent score in style.

Which begs the question: is there something else afoot here?

Betting on cricket goes back a long way to its very origins in England. Unfortunately, so does the practice of trying to arrange a result. We are all familiar with the match-fixing scandals that have shaken the foundations of our game, and it was only yesterday that our own Brian Lara was cleared of charges levelled at him in this respect. The fact is that most of the money to be made in cricket is in the betting.

I think all the crowd trouble we have seen to date in India is part and parcel of the whole match-fixing malady. Someone is paying some miscreants to enter the ground and start some trouble if a match starts heading for the wrong result.

Under ICC rules, the Duckworth Lewis system shall be used to determine a result or target for any interrupted limited overs matches. Someone attempting to manuever the result would either do so at a point when Duckworth Lewis favours their preferred winner, or else would count on breaking the batsmen's concentration followed by a resumption of the match. Obviously this is all guesswork, but what other rational explanation can there be for a home crowd to become disruptive when their team is so clearly
on the road to a grand victory?

Whatever the root cause of the crowd troubles, it is becoming obvious that the ICC and all its member boards must come together and work out a plan to put an end to this problem. I am told that the South African hosts of the next World Cup have adopted their country's rubgy association's rules which ban disruptive spectators for life from all sporting venues.

That is a good start, and one the ICC could consider requiring all cricket venues to adopt.