Windies Will Walk Off Again - Skerritt

West Indies manager Ricky Skerritt defended his decision to take his players off the field in the disrupted third limited-overs international against India, saying yesterday he would do so again if his players faced any physical harm.

"It's my duty to ensure that my players don't face any bodily harm. During Tuesday's match in Rajkot, my players felt they faced bodily harm and that made me decide we weren't going back into the ground. Skerritt declared.

The Windies players stormed off the ground after a plastic bottle thrown from the spectator galleries struck fielder Vasbert Drakes, who was on the mid-wicket fence.

India were declared winners by 81 runs under the International Cricket Council?s Duckworth-Lewis calculation formula as match referee Mike Procter accepted the Windies contention that the match could not resume, and he did not want to penalise the Indian team on account of the rowdy crowds.

Chasing West Indies' 300 for five in 50 overs, India were coasting towards victory at 200 for one in 27.1 overs when when the disruption occurred.

"My players had a genuine cause to feel they faced bodily harm," Skerritt said. "If a situation arises that my players again feel a physical threat, I?ll have no hesitation in asking them to leave the ground again.

"We won't play in situations where my boys aren?t confident to be out in the middle. Cricketers don't have to face bodily harm from spectators in their keenness to play."

Rowdy spectators also interrupted the first two games of the seven-match series in Jamshedpur and Nagpur last week. At the series opener in Jamshedpur last Wednesday, fans lit a bonfire and started throwing empty bottles and stones to the ground to express their annoyance at India?s bad performance.

* Culled from wire service reports.