Tough call for umpires

Sanjay Suri
India Abroad correspondent in London

No, it's not just those Pakistani fans. It's those naked runners as well.

The England and Wales Cricket Board tightened rules, and fences, around cricket grounds in England after Pakistani fans swarmed across the field in the last one-dayer between Pakistan and England at Edgbaston. But the new rules leave umpires with a problem. Will the new laws apply equally to streakers?

It's a brave umpire who will declare that Pakistani fans might disturb a batsman but not a naked woman running at him. And deny that the commotion streakers bring is not quite cricket.

The new measures put in place by the ECB include provisions to suspend play if spectators enter the field while play is in progress. Umpires are in fact being encouraged to stop play if spectators enter the field.

Remember Greg Chappel, and his battles with streakers on cricket fields. Remember also the match in New Zealand, when a student wearing only headphones ran towards the stumps. Greg Chappel, who was batting, grabbed the streaker and landed a couple of brisk blows on the student’s back side with his bat.

The crowd was in uproar, and the student later filed a complaint that he had been assaulted. But Chappel, distracted by it all, was run out next ball.

And that is what umpires will have to consider under the new rules. Field invasions threaten the safety of players, sure. But the rules are intended also to protect the concentration of players, and the game itself. Thanks to Pakistani fans, umpires will have to see streakers in a new light.

Take the match at Lord's when S Venkataraghavan was umpiring. "Yes there was this lady who streaked," Venkataraghavan said in an interview. "It was a Test match between the West Indies and England. It was absolutely amazing. I couldn't believe it. I don't know whether Shepherd, who was umpiring with me, was more embarrassed or me. She jumped the stumps and ran the entire 22 yards."

Umpires will not stand in simple observer position under the new rules. Players have often been too embarrassed to complain of serious distraction by streakers. And not just in cricket. Malivai Washington had to encounter streaking in a tennis match. "I saw these things wobbling around and, Jees, she smiled at me," he said later."Then I got flustered and three sets later I was gone."

Streaking came to cricket after veteran streaker Michael Angelow ran across the field, doing a quick high jump over the stumps along the way. The streaker was only fined 10 pounds, and his friends got together and paid up for him. He said later that he had waited until Dennis Lillee finished an over because he "didn't want to disrupt the game." Not all believe.